Design Share

Every week during our staff meetings we take a little time to do something called design share. It's basically like show and tell. We bring something we found that is inspiring to us. It doesn't have to be design related at all. It can truly be ANYTHING you want to share. Every week I see some really cool things in design share and I would like to share them with you!

The Power of Time Off

Now, this is a long video clip and it may look boring at first. But please, if you have 20 minutes to spare please watch it. It's a speech from a very well-known designer who puts his firm on a one year sabbatical every 7 years. This one year away fuels inspiration and projects for the next 7 years. He talks about the difference between a job, a career, and a calling. Sometimes even though you may have a calling and have found a way to turn that calling into a lucrative endeavor the monotony can still turn it into something detestful and taking a sabbatical can turn it back into a calling. He also compared different large companies that are known for taking sabbaticals as well. It will get you thinking and be worth your time, I promise.

http://www.summerrayne.net/

Next is a book titled, Style, Naturally, by Summer Rayne Oaks. It's all about eco-friendly fashion and what different brands and designers are doing in terms of eco fashion. One thing that stuck out about this book was a description Summer wrote about herself. She said she was never really "into fashion". She was more about helping the environment and sustainability. But her interest in these things and seeing them translate into fashion items gave her a passion for the industry. I just love that.

http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/

This is a website for Polish artist who makes unbeleivable sculptures out of yarn. I'm talking these things are massive. She hand weaves every single one herself. I think some of them are on display in a museum in NYC. They are fascinating to me for several reasons. First, I swoon over the texture that the yarns create in these sculptures. Second, the shapes of all of them, although somewhat different, are almost alien or pod-like in their structure. This fascinates me. Lastly, the sheer size and scope of these works of art astonish and amaze me.

http://pleasefindthis.blogspot.com/

Now, I've posted about this website before but it contines to intrigue and inspire me every day. Everyday the owner of this blog posts a self-taken photograph and a new poem. They are about something different everyday and they are meant for you to interpret them in any way that you need to at that moment. That is to say, you can always find a way that that poem means something to you in particular. Another thing that continues to bring me back time and time again are the responses from readers. This person is truly inspiring people and giving them hope, strength, and courage day after day.

I think this in a way goes along with the first video. You have to have an outlet, almost daily, where you can be inspired and express yourself. And this outlet will give you the inspiration and motivation to see all the other parts of life through. Without this we would all be drones going through the motions, never stopping to think, to appreciate, to love, to live, to laugh, to savor.

Now it's your turn! I think we all come across things that inspire us that may not be appropriate for a blog post or to share for whatever reason. So please, design share with me. Remember, this can be ANYTHING. Nothing is meaningless, if it means something to you then it's enough to share. Please leave a comment with a link or whathaveyou or feel free to send me an email at myflightsofwhimsy(at)gmail(dot)com.