Creativity:Counterfeiting // The Ironies of Self Reflection and Vulnerability
Creativity:Counterfeiting
Creativity. Imagination. Fundamental characteristics of being a human. As I said earlier, creativity is nurtured and cannot be taught. You can teach design philosophy, movements and concepts yet you cannot give people creativity. Inspire, yes, but not give. The interesting thing about nurturing creativity is that it cannot be nurtured in the space of a classroom. It can only be developed through travel and being outside which is why every other week for my Fashion ind: Design class, we are at the Rucci exhibit or at the fabric store or a manufacturer's place.
And as much as I do not want to harp on the same issues, I really do believe we try to control creativity and to place it in a contained cell rather than allowing it to let loose. And when we students are told that we can do anything for a thesis project, we gape and freeze at the sudden and overwhelming possibilities when it was them who initially tried to mold us into skilled labourers.
The tragedy that has befallen on Asia is the lack of creativity. I know it's something almost dangerous to say since I have not visited for two years now but I think the reason why so many 'white' companies are turning to Asia as a profitable market is because of the lack of creativity within the country.
Why?
Well the most obvious of the answers is because Asians typically dislike their kids going into art, liberal arts, anthropology schools where lawlessness is applied and nothing is certain. I've had three art teachers who have influenced me and taught me how to draw. One of them, who I asked to further develop what watercolour skills I had, just made me copy his own paintings over and over again so I left. What good is it to copy when in reality what I need is to train my own eye to see and my hand to follow suite?
So when it comes to the arts and design, we are masters of copying. Pacific mall speaks of this. So does First Markham. In fact, wherever you see a counterfeit designer bag or a copy of the latest fashion trends, there you will see the demise of design within Asia. Because they do not know how to create art and have very few people to nurture their gifts, people have resorted to copying and selling them as if they were genuine. On Ebay, you can even find counterfeit designer dresses for $80 complete with the tags. Bags get even more ridiculous. You can purchase a 'Chanel' bag complete with its own duster bag, authenticity card, and care booklet. And it looks like the real thing. How many times have you ever heard of a Chinese designer? How many times has it been a Chinese designer penetrating the US market as opposed to the European designers entering the Chinese market? Consumerism runs rampant in China since the collapse of the Cultural Revolution. Because the Chinese government is allowing more foreign companies to enter and set up shop, people have a hunger for goods they were never allowed to own in the past. It's understandable. They want to show off their wealth- something that was suppressed in the past (yes I had to write a whole paper on it last semester). And so the people there do not know how to discern what is good and bad. They just follow what the media dictates. They don't have a sense of taste and have not developed a discernment for what is good and bad design (which is another philosophical question all together just like 'what is art'). China has fallen victim to the outsourcing. Because the US outsources the majority of its products to be made in China, China only has labourers but no designers. They do not design anything, just follow.
This is taken from my own viewpoint which lies closely within the major I am studying. This is how I see the lack of creativity being channeled within the country. Perhaps I am wrong, but I believe, with time and the growth in the arts, we'll soon see Europeans buying from Chinese designers.
The Ironies of Self Reflection and Vulnerability
It takes a lot of humility and vulnerability to ask. And I have always been taken aback when people pose such a question to me, "is there something you want to tell me?" or "why can't you open up?" How do you respond to such a question? The problem I am facing with myself is my openness to other via,well, here (aka blog), and my lack in openness to those around me. To come to a conclusion, I realize that I blog to open up to others but I close once I see them. Perhaps its my desire to appear strong and invulnerable- like I don't need anyone. Yes that is true. That really is the reason why I look apparently so 'scary' to other people and so cold. And yet deep down inside, there is nothing more that I want than to connect with people beyond small talk. Here in New York, as I said before, I have very little privacy. And this semester it is increasingly apparent due to the fact that I have almost every class with my roommate so I dont get the room to myself as much as I did in the fall. And when I do have the room alone, my only window faces a school so I can see everyone and everyone sees me. My blog has been my only source of privacy and reflection and ironically that in itself is a contradiction for the internet has become a public space. But I feel relieved when my thoughts are cast out onto the blank white screen and for anyone who wishes to read, can read without my awareness of it. One of the reasons why I am not open in person is that I feel extremely awkward and vulnerable yet I desire to do so... but I just freeze and clam up. Ah yes, I know why. It's because those demons in my head are telling me that I'm not worth it. I place my value in my thoughts yet in a way, I place little value in my thoughts which I naturally discard here. Many times when someone asks me a question about me, a feeling of pleasure runs through my veins. Someone actually is interested in knowing me. And then it hits me that I should give a short, brief answer because honestly, who really does want to know you? They'll get bored and tire of you quickly so keep your answer short. So sometimes when sharing, like at Urbana, I feel the desire to give a quick answer to those things that matter most to me. Yet here I feel like I can write as much as I want because I'm not addressing anyone in particular and the reader has a choice if stopping whenever he or she pleases. It all comes back to 1) self worth 2) fear of vulnerability.
I was just faced with this question today and it totally took me by surprise that I stammered and said "no."
Creativity. Imagination. Fundamental characteristics of being a human. As I said earlier, creativity is nurtured and cannot be taught. You can teach design philosophy, movements and concepts yet you cannot give people creativity. Inspire, yes, but not give. The interesting thing about nurturing creativity is that it cannot be nurtured in the space of a classroom. It can only be developed through travel and being outside which is why every other week for my Fashion ind: Design class, we are at the Rucci exhibit or at the fabric store or a manufacturer's place.
And as much as I do not want to harp on the same issues, I really do believe we try to control creativity and to place it in a contained cell rather than allowing it to let loose. And when we students are told that we can do anything for a thesis project, we gape and freeze at the sudden and overwhelming possibilities when it was them who initially tried to mold us into skilled labourers.
The tragedy that has befallen on Asia is the lack of creativity. I know it's something almost dangerous to say since I have not visited for two years now but I think the reason why so many 'white' companies are turning to Asia as a profitable market is because of the lack of creativity within the country.
Why?
Well the most obvious of the answers is because Asians typically dislike their kids going into art, liberal arts, anthropology schools where lawlessness is applied and nothing is certain. I've had three art teachers who have influenced me and taught me how to draw. One of them, who I asked to further develop what watercolour skills I had, just made me copy his own paintings over and over again so I left. What good is it to copy when in reality what I need is to train my own eye to see and my hand to follow suite?
So when it comes to the arts and design, we are masters of copying. Pacific mall speaks of this. So does First Markham. In fact, wherever you see a counterfeit designer bag or a copy of the latest fashion trends, there you will see the demise of design within Asia. Because they do not know how to create art and have very few people to nurture their gifts, people have resorted to copying and selling them as if they were genuine. On Ebay, you can even find counterfeit designer dresses for $80 complete with the tags. Bags get even more ridiculous. You can purchase a 'Chanel' bag complete with its own duster bag, authenticity card, and care booklet. And it looks like the real thing. How many times have you ever heard of a Chinese designer? How many times has it been a Chinese designer penetrating the US market as opposed to the European designers entering the Chinese market? Consumerism runs rampant in China since the collapse of the Cultural Revolution. Because the Chinese government is allowing more foreign companies to enter and set up shop, people have a hunger for goods they were never allowed to own in the past. It's understandable. They want to show off their wealth- something that was suppressed in the past (yes I had to write a whole paper on it last semester). And so the people there do not know how to discern what is good and bad. They just follow what the media dictates. They don't have a sense of taste and have not developed a discernment for what is good and bad design (which is another philosophical question all together just like 'what is art'). China has fallen victim to the outsourcing. Because the US outsources the majority of its products to be made in China, China only has labourers but no designers. They do not design anything, just follow.
This is taken from my own viewpoint which lies closely within the major I am studying. This is how I see the lack of creativity being channeled within the country. Perhaps I am wrong, but I believe, with time and the growth in the arts, we'll soon see Europeans buying from Chinese designers.
The Ironies of Self Reflection and Vulnerability
It takes a lot of humility and vulnerability to ask. And I have always been taken aback when people pose such a question to me, "is there something you want to tell me?" or "why can't you open up?" How do you respond to such a question? The problem I am facing with myself is my openness to other via,well, here (aka blog), and my lack in openness to those around me. To come to a conclusion, I realize that I blog to open up to others but I close once I see them. Perhaps its my desire to appear strong and invulnerable- like I don't need anyone. Yes that is true. That really is the reason why I look apparently so 'scary' to other people and so cold. And yet deep down inside, there is nothing more that I want than to connect with people beyond small talk. Here in New York, as I said before, I have very little privacy. And this semester it is increasingly apparent due to the fact that I have almost every class with my roommate so I dont get the room to myself as much as I did in the fall. And when I do have the room alone, my only window faces a school so I can see everyone and everyone sees me. My blog has been my only source of privacy and reflection and ironically that in itself is a contradiction for the internet has become a public space. But I feel relieved when my thoughts are cast out onto the blank white screen and for anyone who wishes to read, can read without my awareness of it. One of the reasons why I am not open in person is that I feel extremely awkward and vulnerable yet I desire to do so... but I just freeze and clam up. Ah yes, I know why. It's because those demons in my head are telling me that I'm not worth it. I place my value in my thoughts yet in a way, I place little value in my thoughts which I naturally discard here. Many times when someone asks me a question about me, a feeling of pleasure runs through my veins. Someone actually is interested in knowing me. And then it hits me that I should give a short, brief answer because honestly, who really does want to know you? They'll get bored and tire of you quickly so keep your answer short. So sometimes when sharing, like at Urbana, I feel the desire to give a quick answer to those things that matter most to me. Yet here I feel like I can write as much as I want because I'm not addressing anyone in particular and the reader has a choice if stopping whenever he or she pleases. It all comes back to 1) self worth 2) fear of vulnerability.
I was just faced with this question today and it totally took me by surprise that I stammered and said "no."
2 Comments:
you need to read some madeleine l'engle.
we all want to know you more! more and more! you can never know 100% of a person... because a person can say something about themselves but it may not be 100% true.. it takes a lifetime and you still cannot learn everything about a person, and that is the beauty of everlasting friendship.
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