Dominic Wilcox: «I'm deadly serious about being playful»

Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: playfulness is essential to creativity claims London designer Dominic Wilcox, who says that creatives should not «worry about what other people think» (+ movie).

«I believe that playfulness in design – particularly at the beginning, at the ideas stage – is really important,» says Wilcox, whose latest surreal invention is a car made from stained glass commissioned by Dezeen and MINI.

«I’m deadly serious about being playful. It’s really important.»

Playfulness is the «essential base of creativity,» he claims.

«When your mind is loose and thinking potentially crazy thoughts, other ideas click off that and other people get inspiration from that,» he says. «I think it’s very important to start off being playful, to not worry about what other people think.»

Wilcox is well-known for his surreal sketches and absurd inventions, many of which are collected in his book Variations on Normal.

Related story: Variations on Normal by Dominic Wilcox

He realised some of them for a window display at Selfridges earlier this year, including a tea cup with a cooling fan (above).

Wilcox claims he doesn’t mind if people don’t take his work seriously: «I don’t care,» he says.

Stained-glass Driverless Sleeper Car by Dominic Wilcox

For the Dezeen and MINI Frontiers exhibition Wilcox built a full-scale concept car made from stained glass, designed for a future where driverless technologies have made the safety features on today’s cars redundant.

Related story: Dominic Wilcox’s «car of the future» is driverless and made of stained glass

The exhibition took place at designjunction during London Design Festival from 17 to 21 September 2014.

Dezeen and MINI Frontiers is a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how design and technology are coming together to shape the future.