Initially it was the unpractical in fashion that brought me to design my own line. I felt that it was much more attractive to cut clothes with respect for the living three-dimensional body rather than to cover the body with decorative ideas.

We have no general conceptual thrust for the band other than trying to make music that keeps our interest. When things are novel they are probably things we have discovered by accident or investigation rather than by design.

I used to design for my body which was flat-chested with big hips. That's why my clothes were tight on top with full skirts.

I really appreciate artists of the 20th century and I can see a lot of their influence on my work but to suggest that my design only fits within an 'ism' kind of bothers me.

How do you design it so that people can form a space of their own and feel quiet and contemplative?

For two years nobody talked about anything other than the name arrangement. There was no fund-raising and no progress being made on construction and design.

When I started this project I was a young architect. I was very apprehensive about any changes to the design. Whether I wanted to or not I learned that you can accept some changes to its form without compromising its intent. But it's a leap of faith that I didn't want to make initially - to put it mildly.

So I went for engineering specifically product design which I enjoyed.

It was something I was more interested in myself. When I went to see my sister dance at ballet I was really into costumes and the arts and my family was also supportive of whatever me and my sister wanted to do. I would say I pushed myself the most to be into design.

If you're talking to an architect he can look at a blank piece of paper and once the initial design is there the formula kicks in. Each room should have something unique and different about it - much the same way that in a song every eight bars or so a new piece of information should be introduced.