Early on Sebastian wanted to be an engineer and studied Industrial Design Engineering at Central Saint Martins, but he was more interested in function. Form must follow future.

Focus groups are a lifebelt for the person who can’t make their mind up. As a designer as well as the Managing Director of Sebastian Conran Associates, he asked: “What could go wrong? I am creating the currency for consumerism and stocking up the cycle. What you want for your consumers buying products is to say — it gave me an ‘itchy wallet.’” He used Apple, the second largest corporation in the US, to illustrate his point, “Ten years ago people didn’t even know what an iPhone was, now everyone has either got one or they want to have one. This is an example of how a company created a need.”

Form follows fashion is another term Sebastian used which echoes the term 'form follows function' associated with 20th century architecture and design. Sebastian also quoted British entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood who said in 1776 that “Fashion is infinitely superior to merit”. This was true even then.

Sebastian said that you can’t trust in focus groups and reiterated Steve Jobs’ statement that, “You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.” Instead, Sebastian argued that you have to trust in yourself.

Sebastian spoke about value being the engine of trade and that it can be explained logically. He revealed his simple value equation which is Value = Brand Design Quality\Cost.

He defined value as being the perception of fair exchange but also said that: “Value is only a perception. Who is to determine the value of what quality is?” He explained that brand design quality includes factors such as brand integrity, market position, reputation, experience, and marketing, and said that cost includes price as well as other elements such as convenience, guilt, ethics and sustainability.

Brand integrity can affect one’s perception of identical products. Company and brand perception influence purchase decisions and marketing helps to change people’s understanding. “British Airways and Ryanair evoke completely different emotional reactions,” Sebastian said. “This is because there is also an emotional aspect to making purchase decisions. Emotion is tied in with brand, rationale is tied in with quality. In the abstract subconscious brands are emotional.”

Under brand design quality other emotionally based factors to consider are personality, aesthetics, trend, and zeitgeist. Even a trusted source of good design, such as an Audi, is a complex purchase decision - it is emotionally and rationally driven, you have to balance up the two sides.

Where Sebastian is emphatic is on product design. “Products should be useful and functional; innovation drives sales. I design saucepans for John Lewis. Why should people discard their current saucepans in favour of the ones I design?” The answer he said was, “I have to make their existing saucepan feel less than.”

How does he do that? “Products must have rational function performance, they must have usability. Innovation performance is relative to how easy the product is to use how inclusive it is. All products should be useable by all people,” he said.

Sebastian believes that peer pressure is an incredibly hard driver of consumer purchases and it is unconscious about the space between want and need. Where does want become excessiveness? “We have to ask what do people need as opposed to what do people want,” Sebastian said. “It’s not a progressive attitude. Form must follow future. If you think more about the future, the formula looks bad.” By this he means we can’t have a mindless pursuit of want over need - we have to be conscious of other factors such as sustainability, the environment and the future. But we also cannot live in a moody monotony of no colour."

Sebastian engages with his clients' customers with a complex mixture of emotion, perception and knowing how to create itchy wallet - it takes more than creative talent to do this. He understands the issues far beyond the design problem and speaks his retail clients' language fluently. Despite not taking a stake in the risks and rewards, this is designer as entrepreneur.