Journal
Reflections on creative process:
A conversation with Magdalena Garbarczyk, co-founder of Fineline Architecture about creative blocks and flows, addiction to deadlines and the love of an organized workspace.
L
I’m often asked where I get my ideas from, a simple enough question really but a difficult one to answer succinctly. Monday morning as I sit here thinking about what drives my creative process, I suddenly feel an unquellable need to make another coffee or find any other means available to procrastinate and like this Monday morning feeling quality creative thinking isn’t always something I can tap into, sometimes it's a little allusive and needs to be nudged into being, sometimes it needs a really big shake up.
What about you Magda is creative thought always accessible or do you sometimes need to look for ways to draw it out?
M
As a matter of principle, I believe that creative flow is theoretically always accessible. Theoretically. I won’t claim that I’m able to tap into it every single time, but I’ve noticed a few patterns of behaviour that I try to follow to create the right conditions to access it. I’m usually in a good flow when I’m able to abandon myself to the process. It doesn’t mean that I need at least four uninterrupted hours of serenity (does anyone get that nowadays?) but rather that I consciously do this one thing without expecting any precise outcome. I try to let go of expectations and let the process guide me rather than being too prescriptive about what the process should be leading me towards. It’s not linear, not circular (although I sometimes go in circles), it’s joyfully messy and a little bit like being possessed. In a good way. But I also think that creativity is a practice and like any other practice, it benefits from rigour, discipline and consistency. It’s a beautiful paradox, really. And a fair amount of mental and physical comfort is needed to get started. So I wholeheartedly understand the coffee procrastination but maybe that’s also just part of the process? I have this thing about needing a tidy desk (slightly OCD-tidy) before I can start anything. I had a conversation about this with a painter friend who said that he needed his desk to be messy and full of inspiring disorganised things everywhere and didn’t get people who can be creative in an organised environment. What are your ideal external and internal environments to work?
L
I totally get you on the tidy desk front, for me preparing my space is an integral part of my creative flow, in the process of organising my environment I’m often also getting things in order in my mind, thinking about what I'm about to embark on, looking at the objects and materials in my space, thinking about their properties and what I like about them and about how today these things might be carried into my project, all the while I'm setting the stage, thinking about the sequence of events involved to make this happen, creating both mental and physical space to make my idea tangible.
M
I have another question for you. As much as I love working with others (love my colleagues!) I think differently when I am working alone. Shared creative processes usually result in better projects (I’m speaking about architecture here) but I sometimes find that I need to trigger some initial energy on my own before I can meaningfully contribute to collective thinking. What are the differences you noticed in your work when you shifted from working in a team to working mostly by yourself?
L
I have to confess that I’m still learning the art of teamwork when it comes to design, the design component of my practice has always for the most part been self-generated. My creative thinking comes from a place of quiet contemplation, an internal dialogue, drawing in information, revisualizing this and from this needing to test and make what I have imagined. While it's great to have full ownership of this process it's not without its downsides. At times I have to bring in others for critical feedback, it can be easy to get stuck on a design problem and loop through a familiar group of solutions, having someone come in with a fresh perspective is gold. There are a couple of collaborative projects I would like to embark on in the future so I guess a shared creative process is something I will exercise more down the track.
L
You and I talked a little this week about wellbeing and I’ve been thinking about how this impacts my creative output, there’s that popular stereotype of the tortured artist and I imagine depending on the type of work being made perhaps this is an ideal state of mind for some, but I find having a sense of calm is far more conducive to successful outcomes. Life is typically busy and my time as a working parent is fractured, my focus needs to shift rapidly from one task to another. Some days I feel a bit like a mental contortionist. To achieve a meaningful creative output I have to carry out a certain amount of well- care, you know the regime I’m talking about…exercise, sleep and nutrition, so simple and yet so easy to let slide when life gets hectic. When I do attempt to embark on a creative project without these things in check the outcomes are underwhelming at best, it's like trying to ring water out of a dry cloth! I suppose this is the definition of a creative block. I know you’ve had a few ambitious deadlines lately and many commitments. How do you maintain the quality of your work under pressure or do you find pressure is a catalyst for good output?
M
As much as wellbeing and quality outputs are undoubtedly related, I must admit that I am also a deadline junkie. [Pause] Although now that I think of it, the pressure of a deadline is useful for the production side of things, not so much the creative impetus. I feel childishly satisfied after having spent 12 hours straight producing some good drawings for a presentation for instance. I love that last push where excitement meets stress and tiredness meets a little bit of crazy. You could probably compare it to a difficult workout: it’s hard, you’re almost falling on your knees but you know you’re doing something good and that you will feel a sense of achievement afterwards. It’s addictive, right?
But you’re so right about the well-care regime: when the flow isn’t there it’s usually because the foundations are disrupted. Lack of sleep, healthy food, sun, conversations with friends. And despite being aware of what I need to function properly, I also too often neglect those fundamental needs up to the point when my body has to give me painful warning signs… But as much as becoming a parent has brought multitasking to a whole new level, I think that becoming a mother has also taught me the importance of taking better care of myself. Physically but also mentally.
About the creative block, I stopped worrying about it. I think the need/desire/calling(?) to create is essentially always deep inside but often covered by layers of life that sometimes need to be addressed first. Practice, practice, practice as they say.
L
Another issue I've been thinking about lately is the impact of social media and digital platforms on my work. Social media is an ever-present part of running a business in the world and there’s a plethora of good and bad this brings. From a creative perspective, I find it's an invaluable way of staying present with an ever-changing cultural and creative landscape. I also find with this comes a barrage of imagery, rapidly and in torrents, it can be overwhelming and for me a digital platform can sometimes mean a shallow engagement with a topic. I personally find it necessary to switch off when I’m designing a new range and limit my exposure to imagery and ideas which are specific to what I’m working on. Do you find social media platforms to be a useful tool in relation to your design practice?
M
Wow, I’m not sure how to answer this one in a concise way. As you know I’m quite new to the world of social media and it’s only in this past year or so that I realised how addictive it can be. I open the app mainly to check what my friends are up to, fill a few hearts, move on to look at some over-curated images of lifeless but sexy homes from the other side of the world, think to myself that I could be doing so much more than I do, then check out the architecture firms that designed those places, realise that they are really successful and 10 years younger than me, then some ads tell me that I probably should think about buying that 100% recycled polyester swimsuit that will basically make me feel like a beach eco-warrior this summer, then someone posts a fucking quote of Rumi on the nature of existence, I think I really should get back to a meditation routine, so I check out a few cat videos because I’m only human, then a few more until I hit that really funny one and end my session looking at the latest post of The Architectural Review to make me feel like I’m actually educating myself here while the actual physical AR magazine that included the full length article lies on the coffee table next to me - ordered (for a lot of money) from the UK. Half an hour later I finally realise I need to do something useful and later in the day I complain that I don’t have time for a 20 minutes yoga session. Fucking emptiness. Fast food for the brain. I hate that shit.
The next day I grab my phone, check my messages and my thumb slips to that stupid icon and I’m trapped again. And as much as I’m being told by friends who know that stuff that it’s good for business, and as much as I genuinely do like to see my friend’s new creations and show them my appreciation with emojis (why use words), this meaningless scrolling has never brought me joy or any real inspiration. Maybe my algorithm is fucked up.
M
Lou, I have the feeling that you have a lot of patience when it comes to making. You don’t seem to rush things. How do you know that you are ready to start producing an idea that you have been ruminating on for a while? And how do you structure your iterative process? Do you have lots of samples before you come to the final model or do you sample in your mind a lot first?
L
I sample and physically test ideas out a lot, sampling is a key component of my design process. I start with the design idea in the drawn form but I leave this quite open-ended, I take the essence of the idea into sampling and test this with a range of materials, finishings and detailing to see how it carries my design. At this stage I'm very open to making adaptations and sometimes completely changing tack. I often go down rabbit holes along the way. Sometimes this has fruitful outcomes, sometimes it's a dead end. This part is playful, organic and highly explorative, it's joyful and frustrating, sometimes tear-inducing but on a good day I'm jubilant. Perhaps it's not the most time efficient way of reaching an outcome but for me it amounts to more innovative and considered final pieces.
M
I love our work, Lou. Coffee?
Magdalena and Lou have a friendship forged within a shared creative workspace, where there are often moments between tasks to drink another coffee, to talk about work, about life and the many joy-filled inspiring bits between.
Magdalena Garbarczyk is the cofounder of Fineline Architecture
Louise Leggat is the creative energy that is Kohl & Co