My |krē-āˈtivitē| Recipe.
Since I was a child I’ve been fascinated with the creative world. It is also when I’ve started my journey to explore myself as a creative individual. I’ve learned many things, some more unexpected than others, about myself and about my creative habits.
The list is long, always evolving and includes for example: music, smell of the wind, sound of the rain, cracking fire in the fireplace, silence and mysteriousness of a night, chocolate, tea, freshly brewed coffee, as well as moods of the city, a rock concert or opera. I also found that when in a creative mess nothing else, but cleaning of my surroundings brings harmony to my creative activities.
I was convinced that I have my creativity more than less under control. Until just recently when I found myself creatively numb, and all of the old tricks that used to work up to that moment, failed. I was burned out and desperate to find a way out from that dark place. With my home sparkling clean and my creativity still buried under a pile of ashes, I was forced to look for some new ways to find inspiration to free my creativity.
I decided to come up with a new, different strategy – cooking. I pulled out my magical cooking books and I started the crusade. I cooked, I broiled, I stewed, I grilled and I baked. I did feel a bit better, but I also wondered how many pounds later I will find my light in the tunnel. The rescue, however, came from a bit unexpected and somewhat forgotten direction. It wasn’t until one quiet night, when reading an email from my dear childhood friend about her experience with making bread, when for the first time in a long time, I felt a wonderful excitement about creating something. That was it! Suddenly I had this exuberant urge to make bread. I was inspired! I thought to myself that this is it – my light in the tunnel. If I could teach myself how to make an old style sourdough bread, I could definitely force myself out of the dead creative zone. I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. I had to make bread. It took some research and planning to gather and select the right recipe, most appropriate techniques, ingredients, and tools to make the perfect sourdough peasant bread.
I have to admit making bread is a long and demanding process, but I had to be very patient. I did not rush, I did whatever it took to face this challenge and to succeed. As the smell of the bread baking in the oven filled my home I found myself working on my design projects. It worked. It’s been about 4 months since I made my first bread, but I can still remember the smell and the taste of it. I‘ve been making bread at least once a week since.
It is difficult to point out what aspect of bread making in particular helped me snap out of the creative numbness. Was it just the challenge itself? The excitement of discovering and learning something I’ve never done before? Finally finding inspiration and courage to do what I wanted to do for years? Perhaps all of the above with addition of one more fact: when we cook we use all 5 of our senses, therefore it is extremely creative and stimulating process. Maybe it is safe to say that when one of the senses is unresponsive, using any of the other senses can help to unlock it, stimulate it. I have to admit with full confidence that cooking and bread making in particular, not only make me hungry, but most of all inspire me as a designer.
I have never before tried to compare design with cooking or bread making, but I can’t stop thinking how much they have in common and how much one can affect the other. A secret to a delicious dish or a great design is in the right recipe, ingredients, proportions, and techniques. When selecting the tools for cooking and for design we have to consider what is appropriate, what can help us achieve the goal without scarifying too much in the process. I make my bread with my hands using all natural ingredients, clay pots and wooden spoons so the bread tastes better and reminds me of the bread my great-grandmother used to make, a taste long forgotten by the commercial bakers. I believe that we can easily apply it to the design too. The new technology makes a life of a designer much easier, we can produce things much faster, but as a result the design often lacks the uniqueness of a one of a kind hand made piece. We should remember that old school tools and methods were used to create some timeless icons of design, so we should not be afraid to use them. All of the above combined with innovative ideas and patience hide secrets to unforgettable delicious dished as well as great design.
The major difference in the process of cooking or bread making and design is how do I know that it is ready. In cooking it is simple to control it, in design it is much harder to recognize when the work is overcooked, undercooked or it is just al dente. I guess I should continue my journey, perhaps spend some more hours in the kitchen, to find the answer to this question.
Written by: Aga
