Hasta La Ideas

Kanye West was in the news last week for venting his creative frustration, but he isn’t the only celebrity who wants to be a designer – Pharrell Williams, Brad Pitt, Vanilla Ice and even Buzz Aldrin have had a go at furniture and lighting. With varying degrees of success…

In an interview that was meant to be about his latest album with DJ Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, West revealed he wants to design everything from water bottles to architecture and claimed to be “working with five architects at a time” to learn their craft.

He has already designed a line of high-top trainers for Nike and shown his womenswear collections at Paris Fashion Week.

West announced plans to start his own design company DONDA last year, and hoped to enlist a number of designers and architects to join him. In 2007 he commissioned architect Claudio Silvestrin to design his New York apartment.

Other famous faces branching into design include vocalist and producer Pharrell Williams, who designed a chair with transparent plastic caterpillar tracks for legs.

Rapper Vanilla Ice launched a collection of chandeliers and wall lamps earlier this year.

We’ve also featured a movie in which rapper Ice Cube, who previously trained as an architectural draftsman, explains his love of architecture and how he’s inspired by the work of renowned architects Charles and Ray Eames.

Away from music, actor Brad Pitt has created a range of furniture that features a dozen pieces including a bed, tables, chairs and a marble bathtub for two.

Pitt has also dabbled in architecture. His charity Make It Right signed up a series of architects including Frank Gehry, Morphosis and MVRDV to help provide solutions to the housing crisis created in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina in 2008.

Titanic actress Kate Winslet and Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe are among Hollywood stars who have designed products for British brand Habitat.

Second man on the moon Buzz Aldrin created a lunar-inspired pendant lamp for the brand as well.

Finally, technology firm Blackberry named singer Alicia Keys as its creative director earlier this year while musician Moby began an architecture blog to post his photos and musings on the subject in 2012 – see it here.

We’ve also featured a roundup of architects who’ve tried their hand at designing shoes, which includes footwear by Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel and Oscar Niemeyer.

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