Why collaborate?

I find my best creative ideas come when I interact with others. Creativity doesn't happen in a vacuum. It is about bouncing ideas about with your creative friends, getting inspired by something completely unrelated that you can just see will help your idea with something else. Like the colour and texture of a dying Singapore orchid - what a great fabric idea for a dress!

I'm going to give myself a big dose of creative collaboration. On Saturday I'm off for three weeks of travel through the USA, and I can't wait. While the States has created a lot of stuff (pertaining to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch of my last post) the country is also stuffed full of wonderfully creative, innovative people with great ideas of how to collaborate creatively.

One place I'm really excited about going to is 3rd Ward in Brooklyn, New York. They have a big warehouse space with spots for artists and artisans to rent, great woodworking facilities and lots of courses. They also have exhibitions and provide a real hub for artsy New York folk to get together and collaborate. Another place is SCRAP in San Francisco, which sources waste materials and end products from factories and companies and sells them cheaply for reuse in creative projects. They also run courses and programs for schools.

I'll certainly blog more about my finds once I'm back. And I haven't forgotten to blog about my recent simoneandginko jewelry workshop, which was a great success! As soon as I get my photos together I will get you up to date with all my news.

 

(Photos are from SCRAP and 3rd Ward)

Buy this book!

What's Mine is Yours talks about this new movement of collaborative consumption. How we're sharing resources through car-sharing, swapping clothes rather than buying new ones, and staying in people's spare rooms rather than hotels. We're using the things we have rather than always generating more. We're putting our names down to get a small plot of land to grow vegetables. While being thrifty, or 'making do', has certainly been boosted by the global economic crisis (I'm sure I'm not the only one rediscovering op-shops), this movement started before the financial woes began, which means it is likely to outlast the eventual rebound in the global economy.

If you've ever heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, you'll be even more motivated to share rather than generate new things!

I guarantee it's a good read, and it is a great philosophy for embracing the creative world.