I just heard a fascinating interview on NPR with Jonah Lehrer promoting his new book on creativity, Imagine: How Creativity Works. In this interview with NPR, he tells the story of Steve Jobs’ desire to create creative cross-pollination among a diverse campus of creatives at their one an only common facility: the bathrooms. Check it […]
Business Conference Designed to Boost Creativity and Innovation
According to this report, in the post recession, it will be business innovation that determines whether or not a company can create a competitive advantage. Organized by the Creative Education Foundation, a conference will be held this summer in Atlanta, Georgia, to train the workforce, at least 400 willing participants, to do just that. I […]
Creativity and the Three Stages of Conscious Design Build, Part I: Unconsciousness
First off, I would like to thank the profound work of David Deida, and my partner at Conscious Design Build, Hristiyan Atanasov, for inspiring this three part series. The built landscape all around us has come into being through the power of human beings’ most defining aspect: conscious self-awareness, the awareness of being aware that […]
Intro to the 5 Essentials of Designing and Building Sacred Space
Dear Friends, For those of you who don’t know me very well, I co-host a monthly conversation on the intersection between the built landscape and consciousness with a contractor friend of mine from Bulgaria, an amazing, heartfelt contractor named Hristiyan Atanasov. We call our events, Conscious Design Build: A Holistic Path to Better Living. Every […]
The Relationship Between Art, Creativity, and Meditation
“Creativity isn’t necessarily an obstacle to meditation but, rather, its fruit.” –Amanda Palmer quoting an unnamed friend. Let me begin by thanking my friend, Adam Gyokazan Coutts–a brilliant and irreverent man, Zen practitioner, dedicated meditator, and one who teaches others the view and techniques of meditation–for sending me the following illuminating article. You can find […]
Every Meeting is an Opportunity to Connect with the Ground of Creativity
Today I had a meeting with a Bay Area videographer named Terry Lamb. The two of us had recently met at a business group I just joined, a group whose goal is to get its members to know others from various professions, establish a sense of trust, and then work as a networking group, helping […]
The Flourishing Creativity and Design of IDEO
This video, the first of a three part series that was first aired in 1999, ABC News spent some time with Palo Alto, California based IDEO, whose innovative approach to design and creativity lead them to be one of the top international product designers in all the world. In a five day challenge, ABC asks […]
Creativity and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Part V: How Creativity Expands Our Sense of Self
We began this series by looking at Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, noting how Maslow has creativity positioned at the uppermost level, at the level of Self-Actualization. We also noted that while the first four levels were characterized by a sense of “deficiency” or lack, this uppermost level of Self-Actualization was marked by a sense […]
The Heart of Creative Design: On Natural Light
Nourishing, life-giving, ever-changing light, rising and setting, arching across the sky, silvering the waxen edges of the leaves of the oak tree, flashing up the spine of a single blade of grass, its resplendent presence on the sill of a window, its ability to penetrate a room like a sharp object or to diffuse through […]
Learning From the Mistakes of George Lucas
“You should return to the well often for ideas and inspiration and even a refresher on what you learned from those older campaigns. But rather than trying to “enhance” older campaigns with new technology, apply what you learned from those gems to something completely new. Because like it or not, George Lucas is teaching us […]