styrofoam, motherships, prototypes and budgets

Foam_meat_tray

The last two days have been quite revealing to me. In the past 48 hours I have had two conversations about design, and creativity that have spawned memories that I have always had, however; never expressed until now. What's interesting - is that as I look at these experiences, I am realizing the impact they have had in my life... Your life.


Styrofoam, motherships, prototypes and budgets

I can remember when I was a kid - a little older than I was in my last post "crayons and coloring books", you should read it if you haven't, but still young enough to be imaginative and believe that anything was possible, I still believe this, though there is a LITTLE hesitation now that has been formultaed through education and this amazing thing called "life". When I was about 11, or maybe 12, I would ask my mother for the styrofoam trays that the meat would come in. I would collect about a a half a dozen of the styrofoam trays (for the purpose of having enough "raw materials" in case of tragedy) and I would carve out a section of the family room to work in ...

"My staging area..."


I would get scissors, some Elmer's glue, some markers (permanent for beautification) - and I would begin my quest to build the "Mothership". A flying machine that would someday circle the earth, OR at least the backyard, I was not at all opposed to small victories ...

"Never be afraid to fail. There is something to learn in failure..."


I would draw shapes of the "mothership" on the styrofoam and cut them out to the finest detail. I would draw shapes of the wings, and cut those out with absolute precision. Then I would construct the ship... One piece at a time.

"The prototype was born..."


After the prototype was constructed rigorous testing would begin. I would climb to the top of the shed in our backyard, and I would toss the "mothership" high into the air... Already at a elevated altitude the "mothership" had ample opportunity to catch wind and make a glorious flight ....

"Believe in your ideas, your prototypes... They are, in fact, the beginnings to really great innovations ..."


Sometimes I would build ships that worked immediately, and I would save the design and build upon the design, adding form and function, beauty and simplicity until I took the original design to what I called the "breaking point", the point where the modifications took away from the ships core function... To fly. After building many ships and executing many experimental flights I would in the end, have a new model of the "Mothership", the machine that would SOMEDAY fly around the world ... The beauty to this ... I had zero budget to work with, BUT I had plenty of ideas, and even more dreams ...

"Never allow budgets to stand between YOU and INNOVATION ... Use whatever it takes to prototype... Clay, wood, paper or styrofoam, WHATEVER... THIS is creativity."


So early on I learned that you could take styrofoam, and you could build motherships, OR at least prototypes with little to no budget ....