Notes on Creativity
Curating
What a house of plants teaches us on curating and our creative work
Curating is an important part of achieving the extraordinary. Welcoming contributions from others to our creative work can bring it to another level.
When photographing Allisons’ house in West London for a magazine editorial, I most enjoyed the colours: the vastness of dark greens comes with all the beautiful plants in the house.
Allison told me that she mixes natural and artificial plants. Some of the plants in the house are natural plants that need watering and care. And some are artificial ones that only need the occasional dusting. It was pretty much impossible to tell which were the artificial plants unless you took a closer look.
Curating as in mixing artificial and natural plants
Combining artificial and natural plants aims to achieve this impressive display of an indoor jungle. Some plants are hard or almost impossible to grow to a satisfying beauty in the lighting conditions and the humidity of a UK living room that is pleasant for humans but not so much for plants with other climate requirements. Would she insist on having only natural plants, Allison would have to settle for less beautiful versions of a lot of her foliage.
By adding artificial foliage to her “own” grown plants Allison gets a unique and remarkable look that`s still her achievement as the curator of her home. This is so smart. It kind of picks up the idea of curating to achieve something extraordinary. Something that could not be achieved by just allowing our “own grown plants” into the mix.
Curating creates something new
Not only that we don`t have to do it all by ourselves. But we also can`t if we want the extraordinary. Adding curated ideas elevates our creative work. It can be very smart to take an idea that`s already there and ready-grown – in combination with our own ideas and input it becomes something entirely new and unique. Like a writer who collects ideas and quotes from others to mix them with his own words and input in order to write something worth reading.
Most importantly there`s God who can just elevate everything to a whole other level if we include him in the process. God can do what no person can do, HE can give us favour with people and transform situations. Nothing great that we do is just us and our own achievements but it`s accepting and implementing contributions. Not trying to do it all by ourselves is a smart move.
It`s kind of freeing to accept that by being smart about allowing artificial plants into the mix – plants that we don`t need to water and pamper – we can elevate our display, and our creative work as a whole.
You can see more of Allisons’ stunning house on her Instagram Page @the_london_treehouse
About the author: www.business-photographer.com
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