“Let us strive for, conceive and create the new building of the future that will unite every discipline, architecture and sculpture and painting, and which will one day rise heavenwards from the million hands of craftsmen as a clear symbol of a new belief to come.”
Walter Gropius
What the creative mind can do.
I use this phrase often and think about its deepest meaning. Art, architecture and design have the potential to create change, ease our current ills and open up the conversations that bring on resolve, joy, and hope. Whether this is within climate change, equality, how we live within our cities or decompressing in our homes, the creative mind moves us forward: uplifts and inspires, narrowing our focus to see our way clear, to see beauty.
“To bring in the world, celebrates the world, while shielding celebrates the self.”
In the field of interior design specifically, many things can be achieved depending on the individual. What interior design has advantage over other creative arenas, is the control from the individual: adapting needs and wants. Interior design has the capacity to bring in the world, while simultaneously, shielding from it. To bring in the world, celebrates the world, while shielding celebrates the self. This proposes the idea of the why before the what: why we create, in relationship to our living. Meaning and purpose are the bedrock foundations to the path before us as we search for solutions and slowdown the overwhelm.
“This is what interior design does, builds shelter as it activates mindset and emotion.”
I tend to think of interior design in the context of a verb, as it involves action: building and creating. This is what interior design does, builds shelter as it activates mindset and emotion. This is not just about physical comfort, nor is it about visual entertainment. There is a deeper root here that taps into the psychology of the self and the instinctual human experience of beauty and stimuli. How we live and think have a direct correlation.
The intention of what has been created matters most, and what matters least is style over emotion. Inspiration should be celebrated as well as utility, each has a function in the context of living: how we move through our day to day and plan for the challenging future.
It is my belief that the creative arenas have a strong influence upon how we live. This is my attempt at significance and resolve, to activate what’s possible and to propose, what if.
Bjarke Ingels’ flood defenses project for Manhattan