'Well, let's see ... after the champagne in the morning ... [laughs]. No, really, we live in a banlieue [suburb] just outside Paris called Bagnolet. My girlfriend, Jacqueline, has to leave the house early in the morning for work.
So I buy croissants and she makes coffee, and we have breakfast together. She goes off to work around 8am.
I take my medication for Parkinson's [disease], which is important for me to be able to work.
My work is in my house and my team comes over at 10am or so, and we'll usually carry on until eight or nine at night. My assistant Roland helps me with concepts - and he does wonderful 3D maquettes [models] for my installations. Camille works on the computer with graphics and programming, Stephanie is the press attache and Virginie deals with contracts and money.
I don't really keep count of the hours I work. When I have a new assistant, he or she often has to adjust. We might have three or five projects going at the same time. In the middle of problem-solving, I'll say, 'I'll be right back' and go out to the garden. I'll trim the trees and work the garden. The assistant will ask, 'What are you doing? We're running late.' And the ones who know me will say, 'He's thinking.'
The mind is like a computer; sometimes there are too many different programs running. If you close some of them, the others can run smoother. I find if I occupy my hands with something unrelated to the work, the creative part has space to develop.