A Minute With: The photo-artist Michael Banks

I live in Barcelona, a wonderfully cosmopolitan city, with the sea in front, mountains behind, and tapas bars all around.

What I love most about my city is the language, the culture, the music, the smell of the streets, the visual exuberance of the people, Gaudi, little alleys in the Born and Gothic Quarters, the fact the sea is always there and, of course, the food and wine.

Home is the solid base from which all things originate.

If I could change one thing about my home, I would magically transform it into a 500 square metre loft in New York.

The most important designer of our time is Zaha Hadid.

The most overrated design object of our time is Philippe Starck's lemon squeezer.

Right now I am working on various artwork projects for hotels in the USA and UAE: Hyatts, Hiltons, Marriotts and some independents. Using my abstract photographic artwork to complement the creativity and vision of talented interior designers and architects is a great way to spend my life.

The most important book I have ever read is The Collected Poems of John Keats. Keats is a genius who really appreciated what beauty is, but tragically died too young to enjoy what he understood. Sometimes I feel I owe it to him to enjoy every beautiful moment.

The most important film I have ever seen is American Beauty by Sam Mendes because every frame is visually perfect. At the same time it is a visceral dissection of capitalism and a gentle reminder to savour the simple things.

The easiest way to jazz up a space is to paint everything white and hang a single, large, highly coloured artwork.

If I could design one thing that I haven't yet, it would be a shirt with one of my photo images as the principal design element.

If I wasn't a photo-artist I'd be a travel writer. Travel is such a source of inspiration for me - all those different shapes, forms, colours, sounds and tastes. It would be wonderful to put all that into words.

My favourite food is olive oil.

On my iPod, you'll find lots of obscure chill-out electronic music by unknown but brilliant bands like Module, Floris, Nova June, Kalabi, Polished Chrome, Spinne, Soundcreator and Klangstein.

This year, I want to be happy, go to the gym a lot, create wonderful art and get a tattoo.

If I had to choose between form and function, I would choose function because things have to do what they say on the can and work for their intended purpose. But hey, if they can excite the eyes, too, that's a bonus.

Design is important because it expresses how great human beings are.

For more information visit www.michaelbanksart.com.

More from The National: A Minute With takes a glimpse into the design industry's creative minds, what inspires them and what they're doing next.