The Design Life: What Inspires This Year’s Dwell 24?

We asked each of this year's Dwell 24 about their everyday lives as designers. What inspires them? What does a typical workday look like? Who are their heroes? Follow along with the infographics below to read their responses.

• 19% Left-handed 
• 74% Right-handed 
• 7% Ambidextrous

• Hans Wegner (in design) and Michael Jordan (in life). —Samson Wang 
• Olafur Eliasson. —Ian Cochran 
• Immigrants—people who leave behind and risk everything for a better life. —Maria Camarena

• Soft, squishy things. —Urvi Sharma

• I can tell I’m getting older by my response: the ugly-beautiful situation running about. I like organic forms and surprising material combinations, but this new stuff is beyond my comprehension. —Mark Grattan

• All of it. —Aaron Aujla 

• Any trend that ignores environ- mental issues. —Maria Camarena

• 48% Bauhaus 
• 22% Memphis 
• 30% Brutalist

• 34% Form 
• 30% Function 
• 36% Fun

• 11% Past 
• 52% Present 
• 37% Future

• A pine tree, actually. —Simon Schmitz 
• In my studio, my manual Muji pencil sharpener. In my purse, my silver hairpin from Bali gifted to me by someone dear to my heart. —Paola Sakr
• My moleskin. I never leave home without it, cliché as it may sound. —Gabriel Tan

• 59% Pen 
• 26% Pencil
• 15% Computer

• The ability to carve the human figure in marble. But more important, being able to capture the figure’s soul in the sculpture. —Ryan Heinz
• Negotiation tactics. —Stein Wang
• Proper Italian pasta making! —Joel Booy
• Teleportation, a kind of super strength like in Marvel comics. I really hate to waste too much time on the road. —Mario Tsai

• Secret passageways. —Urvi Sharma 
• A separate refrigerator for ice cream and a library with a spa. —SeonHee Kim 
• A cedar-wood sauna (on a lake!). —Kate Booy 
• A room full of all my favorite stationery in the world, including some items I can’t get anymore. I’d call it the Stationery Museum. —Nicki Shen 
• An indoor hammock. —Miranda Tengs Brun

• For a long time I dreamed of a folding house that I can keep in my car, like the cartoon character Doraemon. I’d love to design a folding house someday. —SeonHee Kim 
• Mobile phones—they all look the same now. —Ángel Mombiedro 
• A mirror. —Ian Cochran

• Dare. —Simon Schmitz 
• Strive to have worthy aims and then attempt to meet them. —Joel Booy 
• Be thoughtful and functional. —Nicki Shen 
• Withstand the scrutiny of being questioned "why." —Stein Wang

• 56% Music 
• 37% Silence 
• 7% Podcast

• 33% A study in head- clearing minimalism. 
• 67% A hive of productive clutter.

• 48% First thing in the morning 
• 11% In the afternoon 
• 19% Sometime in the evening 
• 22% Late at night

• 26% An amplifier for ideas 
• 48% A useful promotional tool 
• 22% A homogenizing force in the design world 
• 4% I avoid Instagram

• With the help of the Internet. —Simon Schmitz 
• You mean, what is Instagram? —Mark Grattan 
• Often and needlessly. —Paola Sakr 
• My zodiac sign is Sagittarius, so procrastination isn’t a part of me. —Topher Kong 
• I meticulously organize everything around me or start rearranging the furniture in my house. —Urvi Sharma

To learn more about each of the designers and their backgrounds, visit the Dwell 24 homepage.