According to the author, Jordan Ayan, who wrote Aha! 10 Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit and Find Your Great Ideas, there are four elements that make up our creative spirit or creative C.O.R.E.: curiosity, openness, risk tolerance, and energy. Ayan states that one way to feed and expand our creative C.O.R.E is travel. Great artists have known this for a long time. Paul Gaughin traveled to Tahiti, Ernest Hemingway haunted France, Spain, East Africa, and Cuba, and the Beatles traveled all the way to India for fresh perspectives. Travel is really one of our greatest teachers.
Recently, I found myself in Norway and the Netherlands for the first time. Determined to be a sponge and soak up new points of view, colors, tastes, and smells, I brought my travel journal and camera. Here are some cherished inspirations from my trip:
Stavanger Cathedral in Norway
This structure was originally founded in 1125. I was mesmorized by its atmosphere infused with reverence and puctuated with subtle shades of slate, fawn, and beige along the stone walls. Monochromatically elevated and beautifully quiet with age.
Landscape near Preikestolen
I haven’t seen an alpine landscape like this before. Fresh and rocky with texture. Emerald-green moss hugs each stone forming a stunning visual carpet accented by a spring running through it. It was hard to pull myself away to continue on the journey. So pristine and perfect.
Pelts and Pillows
Whether dining inside or outside, I noticed in Scandinavia that animal pelts and pillows are used to create intimate settings. Placed casually on benches, they define comfortable groupings and add to the dining ambience. Pelt favorites included sheep and reindeer. They were paired with either neutral-palette pillows or bohemian ones for a colorful splash.
Facades and Canals
Amsterdam has a rich architectural history. Just by walking along the 17th-century canals, you get a feel for the city’s past. It is written on the streets. From Dutch Renaissance to Baroque to Neo-Gothic to Art Nouveau and Art Deco, the cityscape is a real visual feast showing where Amsterdam has been and where it is going. Full of promise and inspiration.
Venturing beyond my geographic comfort zone made my senses come alive. Nothing was familiar, so I noticed everything. New information and data to inform my creativity and shape future ventures. Forever changed. I am grateful.
Recently, my husband and I went on a summer trip to California. Our first stop was Malibu. I always wanted to go. It was early one Saturday morning when we found ourselves wandering through the nestled neighborhood by the Pacific. Of all places, we started to see garage-sale signs. I was curious. We decided to stop at one of the sales. I am glad that we did. To my excitement, I found a small cache of beautiful leather belts. The homeowner told me that one of them was once sported by the actress, Alfre Woodard. Kind of a fun story that you would only hear in Malibu. Even though I didn’t need five belts, I bought them all. As I was making the purchase, I struck up a conversation with the owner. She told me that there was a really big garage sale at Our Lady of the Lake, a church in Malibu. Evidently, Martin Sheen had just dropped off some things there for the sale. I got caught up in the celebrity of it all and went straight to the church. The hunt was fun.
In today’s world, we are able to find fabulous buys at big-box stores. From sofas to chairs to chests, there are deals to be had. Items are massed produced, bought in large quatities by retailers, and offered at deep discounts. It is good for the consumer. Sometimes, uniqueness and personality get lost in the shuffle, casualties of mass production. The distinctive details are missing One way to elevate the design of your room is to look to the past to inform the present. Let the Gothic tracery puctuating the great cathedrals of Europe speak to you in the 21st century. The lacy stonework represents our ability to think about details in inspiring ways. Good design is all about the details.