Inspired

A brief, a direction, a solution to a project are all part of a work process that can be subject to moments of inspired thinking and external influence at any time. What I find fascinating is that ‘inspiration’ is not necessarily specific to such prescriptive agendas. At least, not for me.

There are times when, scanning the pages of Norman Potter’s book, What is a Designer, can have immediate and beneficial effects, or watching the movies of Wim Wenders and the videos of Bill Violi will ignite that spark of creative action. Similarly, the architecture of Peter Zumthor and Louis Barragan, the music of John Hassell and Harold Budd, the paintings of Gerhard Richter and the drawings and constructions of Sol Le Witt all serve their various purposes.

I find things that inspire me most days. Those moments when you are caught by the ordinary and the extraordinary alike, when some by-product of the day presents a quality to impose in a variety of forms and contexts. It is not always necessary that they relate directly to the practice of design, rather that they inform and fuel the thinking process. Or as Potter quite succinctly puts it, ‘nourish or encourage creative attitudes… that are helpfully propulsive to creative activity in a general way, and to a design commitment in particular’.

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