There are two kinds of designers: ones who are very happy locked

“There are two kinds of designers: ones who are very happy locked in their office surrounded by their coterie. The last thing they need to do is to go to a trunk show; they'd go running for the hills. I not only enjoy it, I think, how do you design things that are applicable to life — unless you live it?” Thus spoke Michael Kors, a creator who understood that art divorced from life becomes hollow, and design without experience becomes an echo rather than a song. His words are not merely about fashion—they are about the act of creation itself, about the pulse of humanity that must beat through every work born of the mind and hand. He reminds us that to create for life, one must live deeply, walk among people, feel the air, taste the joy and sorrow that make the world real.

In every age, the ancients have whispered this same truth. The sculptors of Greece did not carve their gods from isolation—they watched the wrestlers, the dancers, the farmers; they studied life in motion and then captured its grace in marble. The poets of old did not write from towers of solitude alone—they walked among the market stalls, the battlefields, the lovers by the sea. For they knew that wisdom and creativity are nourished by the living world. The artist who locks himself away may shape something beautiful to the eye, but it will lack the breath of the living soul.

When Michael Kors speaks of the designer “locked in their office surrounded by their coterie,” he warns of a danger that has haunted artists through time—the danger of comfort, of insularity, of mistaking admiration for inspiration. To be surrounded only by one’s admirers is to live in a mirror, and no mirror can show the whole world. True creation demands exposure, humility, and contact with reality. Kors himself built his empire not from seclusion but from engagement—walking among his clients, watching how they lived, what they desired, what they lacked. He did not design garments only to be admired, but to be lived in—to move, to breathe, to empower.

So it is with all things that endure. Consider Leonardo da Vinci, who refused to be confined by the walls of any studio. He studied the motion of water, the flight of birds, the anatomy of the human body. His designs lived because he lived, his curiosity reaching into every corner of the natural world. Had he shut himself away, his art would have withered into abstraction. But because he opened himself to life, his creations became eternal, speaking across centuries. Kors’s words echo Leonardo’s spirit: to understand form, you must understand function; to design for people, you must walk among them.

Yet this teaching is not for artists alone. It is for all who seek to create—be they teachers, leaders, builders, or dreamers. The one who hides from the world may protect their peace, but they also starve their purpose. To create something that matters, you must first feel the rhythm of real life: the laughter in the streets, the fatigue of work, the wonder of dawn. Without this, your creation becomes an idol—shining perhaps, but lifeless. To live fully is to draw from the world’s infinite palette, and to return your colors to it in gratitude.

Therefore, let this truth be inscribed in your heart: creation demands participation. Do not retreat too long into the safety of your walls. Step out, even when the world feels too loud or too uncertain. Observe, listen, touch, experience. Only then can your work—whether it be art, love, or invention—carry the pulse of authenticity. The world does not need more noise; it needs more truth, more things that are applicable to life, as Kors said.

The lesson is clear and timeless: to create for life, you must live life. Do not fear the crowds, the chaos, or the imperfections of the world—for they are the clay from which meaning is shaped. Be present in the marketplace, in the rain, in the laughter and the ache of others. Let your work be not a monument to isolation, but a celebration of shared humanity. For in the end, the greatest designers, the greatest creators, are not those who flee from life, but those who embrace it—and, through their craft, teach others how to live it more beautifully.