Quotes: Freeman Thomas

"Good design begins with honesty, asking tough questions, collaboration and from trusting your intuition." 

–– Freeman Thomas (b. 1957), American automobile and industrial designer 

via: Sketchbook 16, 2011, p. 146

Quotes: Lotta Jansdotter

"I asked Sanna [Haverinen] about inspiration and how she finds it. Her answer: "I cannot simply sit down and think about things to make and bring forth new creations. It's when I start doing something with my hands that the process actually happens –– out of that, something new will begin and evolve." 

–– Lotta Jansdotter, Åland-born, American-based designer, maker, artist, author, teacher 

Source: Lotta Jansdotter. Open Studios with Lotta Jansdotter. San Fransisco: Chronicle Books, 2011; p. 124. 

via Sketchbook 16, 2011, p. 142.

Quotes: James Gallagher

"... collage is all about recycling, reinterpretation and reprocessing of our collective past, present, and future." 

–– James Gallagher, American collage artist, editor, publisher, and creative director 

Source: Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage, Preface, unpaginated.

via Sketchbook 16, 2011, p. 125

Quotes: David Horvitz

"Do something everyday, regardless. Nothing will happen unless you first initiate a process of cause and effect. This starts with an action. Reawaken the possibility of possibility. Reawaken it with play." 

–– David Horvitz (b. 1982), American visual artist 

via: Sketchbook 15, 2011, p. 143

Quotes: E. W. Wainwright

"A mistake is the most beautiful thing in the world. It is the only way you can get to some place you've never been before. I try to make as many as I can. Making a mistake is the only way you can grow." 

–– Eccleston W. Wainwright, African-American jazz drummer 

Source: conversation with Nathaniel Klemp, 2001 

via: Sketchbook 15, 2011, p. 93

Quotes: Henry David Thoreau

"This world is but a canvas to our imaginations."

–– Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American essayist, philosopher, and poet 

via Sketchbook 15, 2011, p. 71

Quotes: Janey Levy

"In Islamic art, the square was often a symbol for Earth. The four corners represent the four directions of the compass, or what were thought to be the four states of matter –– solid, liquid, gas, and fire." 

–– Janey Levy, author

Source: Janey Levy. Islamic Art: Recognizing Geometric Ideas in Art. New York: PowerKids Press, 2007, p. 9. 

via: Sketchbook 15, 2011, p. 37.

Quotes: Monica Förster

"The computer is a tool; I can't do without it. But the nice thing about making models is that in the process of doing, I'm more open to mistakes – maybe I put the tape in a way that I don't intend, but it shows a new possibility. In a computer everything is perfect. When I make models, it's intuitive and rough: I take a flat piece of paper, I cut it, I tape it. It's very quick. I find it very refreshing." 
–– Monica Förster (b. 1966), Stockholm furniture designer

Source: May 2011 Dwell magazine, page 52. http://monicaforster.se/ 

via: Sketchbook 15, 2011, p. 28

Quotes: unknown

"A creative mess is better than tidy idleness." 

–– unknown 

via Sketchbook 15, 2011, p. 13

Quotes: Igor Stravinsky

"Too many pieces finish long after the end."

–– Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Russian-born French and American composer, pianist, and conductor 

via Sketchbook 15, 2011, p. 10

Quotes: Coco Chanel

"Style is eternal and yet it evolves all the time. It can be compared to a tree. Every spring, the same tree is there, but it is not the same as it was before." 

–– Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971), French fashion designer and businesswoman

 via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 147 

Quotes: Bruce Cockburn

"The trouble with normal is it always gets worse." 

–– Bruce Cockburn (b. 1945), Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist 

via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 140 

Quotes: Meister Eckhart

"God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by subtracting." 

–– Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), German Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mystic

Quotes: Laurie Rosenwald

"All the wrong people have self-esteem." 

–– Laurie Rosenwald (b. 1955), American artist, animator, and author 

via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 110 

Quotes: A Franciscan blessing

"May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."

 

–– A Franciscan blessing 

via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 96

Quotes: Gustave Flaubert

"Be regular and orderly in your life so that you can be violent and original in your work." 

–– Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist 

via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 94

Quotes: Alex Bogusky

"Fear is the mortal enemy of creativity, innovation, and happiness." 

–– Alex Bogusky (b. 1963), American designer, advertising executive, and writer. 

via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 92.

Quotes: Mark Twain

"Accident is the name of the greatest of all inventors." 

–– Mark Twain (1835-1910), pen name of Samuel Clemens, American writer 

via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 85

Quotes: Ralph Waldo Emerson

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."

–– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher and writer 

via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 48

Quotes: Alexander Graham Bell

"Discoveries and inventions arise from the observation of little things." 

–– Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), Scottish-born (with ties to Canada and the United States), inventor, scientist and engineer 

Source: National Geographic, January 1988, Vol 173, No. 1, p. 11

via Sketchbook 13, 2011, p. 143

Quotes: Unknown

"Holding a grudge is letting someone live rent-free in your head." 

–– Unknown 

via Sketchbook 13, 2011, p. 112

Quotes: Raymond Rubicam

"Resist the usual." 

–– Raymond Rubicam (1892-1978), American advertising pioneer 

via Sketchbook 13, 2010, p. 79

Quotes: Lao Tzu

"A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." 

–– Lao Tzu (c. 500 BCE), Chinese philosopher and writer 

via Sketchbook 13, 2010. p. 45

Quotes: Ben Hamilton-Baillie

"What's wrong with how we engineer things is that most of what we accept as the proper order of things is based on assumptions, not observations. If we observed first, designed second, we wouldn't need most of the things we build." 

–– Ben Hamilton-Baillie (1955-2019), British architect, urban designer, and movement specialist 

Source: Matthew E. May. In Pursuit of Elegance. 

via Sketchbook 13, 2010, p. 34.

Quotes: Leonardo da Vinci

"The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard; but if he will apply himself to learn from the objects of nature he will produce good results. This we see was the case with the painters who came after the time of the Romans, for they continually imitated each other, and from age to age, their art steadily declined." 

–– Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian painter, engineer, inventor, and architect 

via Sketchbook 13, 2010, p. 24

Quotes: George Bernard Shaw

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." 

–– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright, critic, and social activist 

via Sketchbook 13, 2010, p. 17

Quotes: Jackson Pollock

"My painting does not come from the easel. On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well." 

–– Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), American Abstract Expressionist painter 

Source: Matthew E. May. In Pursuit of Elegance, p. 52

via Sketchbook 13, 2010, p. 16

Quotes: Japanese Essays in Idleness

"In everything ... uniformity is undesirable. Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth. ... Even when building the imperial palace, they always leave one place unfinished." 

–– Japanese Essays in Idleness, 14th Century 

via Sketchbook 13, 2010, p. 11 

Quotes: Oscar Wilde

"I am not young enough to know everything." 

–– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish poet and playwright 

via: Sketchbook 12, 2010, p. 142 

Quotes: Cesare Pavese

"A true revelation, it seems to me, will only emerge from stubborn concentration on a solitary problem. I am not in league with inventors or adventurers, nor with travellers to exotic destinations. The surest – also the quickest – way to awake the sense of wonder in ourselves, is to look intently, undeterred, at a single object. Suddenly, miraculously, it will reveal itself as something we have never seen before." 

–– Cesare Pavese (1908-1950), Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator 

Source: Dialoghi con Leuco, 1947, cited in  The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, 1992. 

via Sketchbook 12, 2010, p. 133