Excellence can take you places. Literally. 

It is the eyes. In the one instant that theirs hold yours, one expression changes rapidly into another: from curiosity to raw excitement! The recognition of an Olympic torchbearer in that one instant brings out an uproar first from their eyes, and then from their arms. Sitting in the bus waiting for my turn to carry the flame, I experienced multiple such moments of brilliance: how can one not wave back, especially to the little ones? I could look at me from outside of me: an inspirational figure, an idol. Did I deserve it? Looking around me, I decided I did not. But I began to recognize those who did: sharp and ambitious, warm and humble. Exposure to such company has been the biggest gift of my years in London – and meeting fellow torchbearers has been the highest honour yet.

“Don’t think about problems; think about solutions.” I suppose this has IDE written all over it. Not because we’re always creating solutions, but because we’re always buried knee-deep in problems. If you somehow finally find the wood that is light enough, it is too thin to drill for hinges. If the box is big enough to fit everything inside, it is too big to be carried on the outside. If the bamboo resists steam, it warps too much to hold its shape. If it is easy to mass-produce by injection-moulding, it is unsustainable. If steel is ideal for storage of food, it gets too hot to touch. Each solution presents an additional problem; and we get busy thinking of how to solve the newest one, balancing all its previous solutions. And in one moment of brilliance, solutions interlock and serve up the smartest, simplest design possible. Industrial designers are jugglers – although first timers struggle to hold ground, its fun at the end!

“I wish we had more time when we had the time.”