Having unveiled his first car design and Manhattan’s newest park, designer, architect and inventor Thomas Heatherwick talks to us about soulfulness in cities and why building with emotion is now more critical than ever.   It’s been a busy few months for the Heatherwick Studio, but its headquarters in London’s Kings Cross seems almost empty, with most staff working from home. Warm light still casts a glow over a colourful collection of curios. Plants spill lush greenery out from their pots, giant Lingzhi mushrooms dominate one table, beaded neckpieces cover one wall and a Chinese lion-dancer head sits atop a shelf. In one corner, Thomas Heatherwick, clad in a cool shirt and designer camo trousers, shows me a collection of clay vessels made from cow dung. “Life is too short to waste your time repeating yourself endlessly,” says the radical British designer, architect and inventor. “I’m more interested in inventing something in particular for a certain place …The places that I’ve always loved are ones with a lot of character.”