After more than 30 years in interiors, I still get excited about product design. I love a beautiful finish and a cleverly considered detail, and I’m increasingly interested in how those choices support us day after day. What’s happening beneath the sink can be just as interesting to me as the tap we see above it. Water has become a personal subject for me.

The visit continued a conversation that began in Milan earlier this year, when I met Vien McArthur Nguyen, Fisher & Paykel’s Head of Industrial Design, during the Nature – Ritual installation. As I wrote in my Milan Design Week blog, the presentation placed fabric care within a wider exploration of materials, daily habits and the way technology enters the home. It felt thoughtful and very human.

I've become fascinated by the developing conversation around longevity architecture. The terminology may be relatively new, but many of the principles aren't. I see longevity architecture as designing buildings around the people who will actually live inside them, bringing together architecture, interior design, building science, technology, and our growing understanding of human well-being.