7 steps to unleash your creative self
Creativity is without a doubt one of the most valuable assets in our arsenal. It is also a quality (outside of our studio practices) that is not always appropriately understood for the value it brings. We have all witnessed occasion where individuals, faced with creative endeavour of some sort, are struck with fear or even paralysis. I am sure that this often has a lot to do with the way we have been educated and the freedoms that we were granted around creativity as children; or not, as the case may be.
So in this article I am going to turn the spotlight onto creativity and share with you the seven steps to practicing creativity confidently. I’ll be looking at what it means to be creative in our specialist endeavour of Architectural Interior Design. How do we use creative energy to create exquisite outcomes for our residential clients? Whilst this will be my focus, these learnings will be appropriate for all fields of creative endeavour, so please share this article with any budding young or older creatives that might benefit from this conversation. As always I would also be very keen to hear your thoughts.
1. Creative Licence – the creativity enabler
First and foremost, creativity is only enabled by licensing oneself to have real freedom of thought. It doesn’t fare well when constrained by parameters and boundaries. Perhaps by the end of this article, if you are one of those people, terrified at the thought of creativity, you might decide to cut yourself some slack and give it a go! Creative licence is the first step to unleashing your creative genius!
Affording yourself the creative licence, to tackle a problem, requires looking outside the the task at hand. Look at the world around and gather as much inspiration, as many ideas, and case-studies as you can that will help spark fresh perspectives, always with the problem you are trying to solve at the forefront of your mind . These inspirations are important because they will ignite and inspire ideas around the task you are working through; whatever that might be. It won’t feel like you are working when you are looking upwards, and sideways, and every other direction other than your destination. Allow yourself to be seduced by what draws you in – there lies your fountain of inspiration.
Go on, afford yourself the luxurious freedom of looking at the world around you; go to that exhibition, take a little more time with that ideas book, visit that trade show, pick up a magazine. These slices of inspiration will inspire new thoughts, and new ideas – all you need to do is invite them in and allow them space in your busy, beautiful mind!
2. CREATIVITY CRAVES COMMITMENT AND CARE
Once you are in your stride with formulating new ideas, commit to them and create an environment for them to grow. In our business of Architectural Interior Design we are naturally committed to idea generation. In many ways the idea generation is the easy part; the development of ideas is more challenging and takes great commitment and care. So how do we grow the ideas that our clients warm to in the concept stage of our project?
Honouring ideas with time and consideration. We simply think about our ideas and designs from all sorts of angles. How will our client use this? How will one design work with the rest of the scheme? How will our ideas work ergonomically, etc.. We think and then we think some more to make sure that we have considered all angles.
Through careful honing and polishing. Often we will put an idea down and then come back to it, to look at it afresh. It’s a process that requires more time.
Through careful editing. Pruning ideas back so that the scheme becomes the best version of itself is essential. There are always many directions a scheme can go in, especially with so many lovely products out there for us to work with. Sometimes you will have ideas that turn out not to be such great ideas. That’s fine as long as you can recognise them when they come along and take action with a swift cull. Love your ideas, and commit to them but realise when there are better ideas to work with.
A little side note here, I often think of the role of an Interior Designer as the conductor of a great orchestra. Every bespoke piece must have it’s own voice and play to the best of its strengths, but in the orchestra, or great room, must subjugate itself to the whole and play as one in evoking the big idea, in this case the room scheme. This is no small task, it can only be achieved through great commitment and care at every stage and with every element.
3. CREATIVITY REQUIRES FLEXIBILITY
Working creatively requires great flexibility. This is because the best ideas evolve. There is no shame in axing an idea in favour of a better one if it presents a little later in the programme. Pivoting takes energy though and special handling, so be aware of this and introduce new, radical ideas carefully and only if they are well thought out, especially if they come up later on in the programme.
We find it is on the smaller details, often, where a flexible approach can yield great outcomes. Frequently we will pick something up on a project site visit, and if we allow ourselves to think creatively, we might find a better solution that requires flexibility and committed action to bring about the change enhancement.
4. creativity loves a hero
Creative ideas most often rely on a central idea or character to lead the charge. In every room that we work with we look for a design hero to lead our schemes. This item might be a piece of fabric, an artwork or a piece of furniture. It is the piece that will inspire everything else that we put into a room. It creates the character and tone of the room and is our guide all the way through development. If you can identify the hero’s through your creative journey you are half way there. Refer to them often and beware of kicking them out of tired schemes unless you are willing to start over from the beginning, this is usually a bad idea.
5. CREATIVITY’S OTHER NAME IS CONFIDENCE
This is super important, and it’s worth understanding how this works. As creatives we have to sell our ideas in order to get buy in. This is true for artists, designers, musicians, dramatists and every other form of creative profession. No body goes to see a half baked show, neither will an artwork presented half heartedly attract handsome attention. The only way to get to this place of presenting creative output confidently is to go deep with your subject matter so that you can know and love it inside out. This comes with commitment and passion for your endeavour. With this in place, confidence builds. In fact your confidence will be infectious and you will inspire others on the same road as you. Plan to be confident, and if when you come to presenting an idea and you don’t feel confident about it then either the idea is no good, or you still need to go deeper with it, or you might just need a good nights rest. Whatever the reason don’t present your creative endeavour unless you feel fabulously confident behind it, because you won’t get any bites, not even a little nibble unless you present your ideas with confidence.
6. CREATIVITY THE PIONEER
Practicing creativity, is not always comfortable, because of course it’s pioneering in nature. To be a memorable creative you will need to go where no man has been before, and this will take you outside of your comfort zones for a lot of the time. As a creative you will need to explore, seek new ways and challenge existing modes of operandi in the pursuit of finding fresher and more meaningful ways of presentation for your endeavour.
As an Architectural Interior Design practice we are constantly looking at new methods of construction, for example, or how one material meets another. Many of the tasks that we are faced with to craft an exquisite interior have been done countless times before, but we will be working with a fresh situation, with new materials, with an existing architectural vernacular, etc, etc and so we need to take a wider, more critical view and figure out the best approach. We are not afraid to take on the pioneer mantel and if something hasn’t been made before we will figure out the best way of bringing it to life in the context of a project. We find this extremely exciting and also very rewarding.
A side note here is that this pioneering spirit is most potent, when coupled with looking back to the history of architectural interior design. Learn from what has gone before and take it forward.
7. CREATIVITY WELL DELIVERED CELEBRATES
Creativity is central to our DNA, and if you are reading this my wager is that it is central to yours too. Every time we deliver a project successfully we celebrate, as individuals and also as a team, because our projects are complex, multi-faceted creatures that are not always easy to tame, so when we get to the end of one of them and we see our clients delightfully settled, we celebrate! This informs our confidence going forward and inspires our next interior design challenges. With creativity there is always a way through, and it’s always only plain for everyone to see with the final installation.
