Unleashing Your Creative Potential: The Role of Play and Your Inner Thespian

“All the world’s a stage…”

What would you do differently if you thought of yourself as an inspired, creative person at play – a Thespian in the purest sense of being human, playing on  the world’s stage?

Try it, live it, because you are just that!

Tranforming How We View Pollution- Designing a Better World

“Pollution is nothing but resources we’re not using.” -R. Buckminster Fuller

R. Buckminster Fuller‘s quote suggests that instead of viewing pollution and waste as a problem, we can see them as untapped resources waiting to be utilized.

This reframe allows us to shift our focus from reducing waste and pollution, to finding ways of  converting them into something useful.

We already use waste from food production to create compost, which can then be used as fertilizer.  Landfill waste creates methane which gets burned to create electricity to power people’s homes.

But these are just some obvious ways of  repurposing waste. There are yet to be found solutions that are right around the proverbial corner.

And, as technology advances, there will be new waste steams and more importantly, new creative solutions developed for a massive, growing  market that is only getting bigger.

By 2025 the global waste management market is expected to reach $350 billion , providing ample opportunities for innovative and significant solutions. 

Buckminster Fuller knew the importance of reframing and had a wonderful ability to see things in unconventional ways.  To him, it wasn’t just about  pollution, it was about something bigger.

By utilizing waste and reducing pollution, we foster sustainability, create a more circular economy, and  ultimately benefit everyone and every thing,  on what  he affectionately called, “Spaceship Earth”.

Tranforming How We View Pollution- Designing a Better World

R. Buckminster Fuller‘s quote suggests that instead of viewing pollution and waste as a problem, we can see them as untapped resources waiting to be utilized.

This reframe allows us to shift our focus from reducing waste and pollution, to finding ways of  converting them into something useful.

We already use waste from food production to create compost, which can then be used as fertilizer.  Landfill waste creates methane which gets burned to create electricity to power people’s homes.

But these are just some obvious ways of  repurposing waste. There are yet to be found solutions that are right around the proverbial corner.

And, as technology advances, there will be new waste steams and more importantly, new creative solutions developed for a massive, growing  market that is only getting bigger.

By 2025 the global waste management market is expected to reach $350 billion , providing ample opportunities for innovative and significant solutions. 

Buckminster Fuller knew the importance of reframing and had a wonderful ability to see things in unconventional ways.  To him, it wasn’t just about  pollution, it was about something bigger.

By utilizing waste and reducing pollution, we foster sustainability, create a more circular economy, and  ultimately benefit everyone and every thing,  on what  he affectionately called, “Spaceship Earth”.

AI Assisted Shoes

AI Assisted Shoes

5 Insights into Innovation Courtesy of Orchids

I recently attended an Orchid show at the Chicago Botanical Gardens. The displays of orchids of all types, the colors and shapes were wonderfully entrancing. They are a testimony to resilience and innovation in nature. So in honor of our fascinating, flamboyant flower friends, here are 5 lessons on innovation, courtesy of orchids.

1.  Orchid seeds are so tiny they need symbiotic help from fungi to nourish the seeds during the fragile early growth.
Innovation Insight: Creative ideas need nourishment. It’s notoriously hard to get young ideas going, and keeping them going. Fungi provide extremely local and immediate support. Early innovation needs nourishment, and not just financial.

2. Orchids are everywhere. There are more than 25000 species on every continent except Antarctica.
Orchids adapt, and thrive.
Innovation Insight: Innovation requires adaptability.  It involves constantly adapting to changing circumstances and finding new ways to solve problems.

3.  Orchids can be challenging to breed and grow, requiring patience and persistence.
Innovation Insight: Creating new flowers is a type of innovation on its own.It often requires persistence and a willingness to fail and try again. Nature uses multiple simultaneous experiments. So should innovation labs. Successes move on to the next round.

4.  Orchids, like all living things, are constantly adapting and evolving. Cross-pollination creates combinations of unique traits with novel advantages.
Innovation Insight: Continuous improvement and iteration are the foundation of incremental innovation. The cross-pollination of ideas, metaphors,domains, etc., powers both incremental and radical/disruptive innovation. Find the means for minds to experience cross-pollination.

5. Orchids are beautiful, graceful, mysterious,and wondrous.
Innovation Insight: Beautiful innovation is hypnotically attractive. Functionality doesn’t have to be, ‘meh’. Captivate.

From the fragility of their beginnings,  orchids remind us that innovation involves not only problem-solving skills but also creativity, cross-pollination of ideas, beauty, and resourcefulness. By embracing these lessons from orchids, we can cultivate the innovative mindset required to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

And have a little orchid in your food or drink today. If you didn’t know, vanilla is from an orchid.

😊

“When Snow Folds” (a science haiku) and more

When Snow Folds (a science haiku)

Icy lace garment
Sliding off warm gentle curves
Folding at her feet

I love seeing how different materials behave in unexpected and beautiful ways.

Today, thin sheets of snow flakes interlaced and melted together–just enough…

…Sliding on a thin layer of water underneath and acting more like a fabric, like chainmail, as the sheets
slowly slid off the cars.

I was just a second too late getting this pic after the ‘fold’ collapsed

I’m not sure how useful this snow phenomenon is in the everyday world, but it’s a reminder to pay attention to what materials can do under different circumstances. Maybe not snow, but another type of crystalline material, or maybe it is  chainmail of some type.

Liquid, solid, gas, hard, soft, they’re all relative.

What might not work in one situation may be perfect for another.

Be curious, feel wonder,  explore, learn, create…

Thirst Quenching Monastic Innovation

My rendering made with the help of AI

Innovation at it’s finest.

Since German monks first brewed beer to sustain them through Lent, they’ve experimented with the golden elixir to tantalize taste buds, nourish the body, and bring joy to the soul.

The latest innovation?

Powdered beer!

Cheaper to transport.

More portable.

Just add water!

This is a great example of a product innovation birthing new business models. Powdered goods open new vistas, provide new opportunities for experiences.

What do you think about this innovation?

Personally, before i say more about it, I will need to sample the sacred brew.😎

Seven Innovation Insights from a Seagull

I tossed the hard soda bread slices out my car window.

A cacophony of squawking white and grey  descended upon the morsels.

First come, first serve! 

Multiple birds tilted their heads back trying to choke down the square treat.  Not succeeding would drop it, try again, reorient the edges- that is if  someone else didn’t snatch it off the ground and immediately attempt gulping it down-also to no avail.

But, one seagull (the one in the picture), had a better approach. It picked up a larger piece, flew about 30 yards away, landed in a puddle, dropped the bread…

…and waited…

All the while watching the rest of the flock fight and gag on scraps.

Then, while leaving it in the puddle, the gull picked and ate  pieces as the bread softened, eventually beaking what was left of the sponginess, and with a backwards snap of the head, swallowed it whole.

And then the revelation…

Seven gull inspired insights into innovation

1.  Put energy into what creates results:  Flying away from the other seagulls, meant being able to focus on the solution and leverage  time and energy that would have been spent fighting.

2.  Don’t do what everyone else is doing: Everyone else wanted to do it the same way-grab a giant tile and swallow! But this bird had its own way- it believed in its method.

3.  Taking risks: Even though the bird separated itself from the mayhem, dropping food is tantamount to giving it away in seagull law. It also took a risk by dropping the bread in the water.  It could’ve dissolved to nothing .  Take  risks, be willing to try new things. 

4.  Observe, build upon what you’ve learned, and share knowledge (i.e. Experiment!): This could have been the first time that the seagull ever did this (in which case, Bravo!) but more likely at some time in the past,  it tried the bread trick, and/or observed the behavior in another seagull.  Take what works, build upon it, then share what you learn, and let others build upon the knowledge. Oh, and share it with those fellow curious souls that want to learn,  not those fighting over scraps.

5.  Self-reliance and controlling visibility: The seagull took matters into its own hands (or beak, in this case) and found a way to get results. No one will have the passion you do for your projects.  Teams are helpful, especially when commercializing, but it’s important to control visibility (and team size) during the fragile early stages. Over-visibility can kill a project before it has a fighting chance. Share your successes strategically  to create excitement (and funding!)

Have…

6.  Patience: The seagull had to wait for the bread to soften up in the water before it could eat it. Be willing to wait. Trust.  Do the work. The results will come.

7.  Focus on the goal and be persistent: The seagull wanted food without a hassle, and made it happen.  Keep your focus on the prize and find creative ways to get there.

I’m sure there are other insights. I’d love to hear yours or how you’ve improved your innovation!

In the meantime, let’s take a page out of the seagull’s book and soar to new heights in our own creative endeavors.

Oh, and remember to enjoy a snack along the way!

Want to be More Creative? Do This

You won’t get more creative by accident.

Make time to embrace your creativity.

Make time to rest.

Carve out some sacred time and space so you can re-embrace the creativity you were born with.

Material Matters: How Knowing About New Materials Can Transform Your Design Process

Very often, a design challenge can be solved in part, if not completely, by picking the proper materials.

And sometimes new materials, like this gold filled silicone from Giberg ,   enable a certain level of flexible elegance  that can’t be experienced any other way.

Newer materials are constantly being created, and new opportunities with them. Make a point of spending some time exploring new materials and what they are capable of.

In fact, sometimes you can learn about materials and find out that they aren’t really that new. It’s just that you didn’t know about them before. I actually had that exact experience recently, and it solved a challenge in the design.

I have multiple places that I check routinely for new materials, but one of my favorite places is Material Connexion. Check them out.

Who do you follow to learn about newer materials?