Since I left the architectural world to be the captain of my own dreamship, the one thing I missed the most is the creative meeting of minds with other designers and experts. To sit at a large rough-hewn, hand-crafted salvage wood table, tracing papers spread out, markers and pencils strewn about, hair mussed, sleeves pushed up, the air vibrating with creative energy and we finish each others’ sentences as we sync in what can only be charette magic.
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TreeSpace Imaginaryland Lingo
“Charette”
A short, fun but intense creative brainstorming session where we mind-meld and come up with tangible, actionable visual ideas!
“Charetteer”
A charette participant
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To me, one of the greatest legacies of training and working as an architect is the intense teamwork involved. An architect’s work is nothing without his team of interior and landscape designers, craftsmen, contractors, lighting experts. They fill his knowledge holes and pour concrete into his dream structures.
Yes there are jostling egos, and none more so than in an architectural office. But in a charette, a creative brainstorming session with real results to produce, there is no room for this cheeky little emerald-suited troublemaker called the ego. And when all is on board a world-changing design idea, it’s a kinship like no other!
Do you feel intimidated when you’re in a room with other creative talents? We’ve all felt the jade-green twisting of the heart, the sigh of ‘I’ll never be that good…’ But if we make it our mission to embrace our own story-and create from our own heart and unique truth, we’ll know there’s no one out there like us and we’ll start to look at other talented folks differently:
What if we seek for collaboration instead of competition, how much more can we achieve? What if instead of envying, we reach out and say, “I know you’re good, but let’s team up and work on something, we’ll be even better”.
When I was a student of architecture, only a party was more fun than being in a group project with other creatives, putting our heads together and brainstorming brilliant ideas that could only come to reality with our combined talents. We all had our own strengths, the photographer, the videographer, the storyteller, the technical expert. One original in a room is great, a team of originals is powerful.
Let’s bury the ego and let the minds meet.
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How can you mind-meld?
- Can you collaborate with your favorite photographer for a mock photo shoot in a never-before-seen theme? Perhaps for a submission to a top industry magazine or blog?
- Join forces with another crafter to create a new product to knock the socks off the online blogging world? If she knits and you felt, can you create a knitted, felted super-product?
- Bring your competing dance or yoga instructor into your studio for a ‘different styles’ class?
- Host a webinar or workshop with a power team of web designers for the ultimate in website education? Keep this list for referrals when your schedule gets full? Pick their brains when you’re stuck on a problem?
- Bring together a group of local creative minds for a backyard party to help you solve a town-level social or sustainable problem?
- What does your dream biz team look like? What kind of brilliant minds can you assemble to help you achieve your dreams?
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One of the biggest reasons why I started my own charette sessions is so that I can brainstorm with other creative spirits and makers to solve design problems. In my vision, this will one day evolve into a bigger thing, but that’s a story for another day…
Want to put our heads together for some creative explosion? Let’s charette your story:
Two heads, 15 minutes, lots of ideas.
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