Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Two Sticks, Tyvek, and Tape

MIT freshman Natalia Chernenko looks to the sky.

For our creativity break, my colleague Prof. Chris Csikszentmihalyi began a relaxation session with his student Gemma Shusterman's specially crafted exercise video entitled, Fawnicize, where we all mimicked animal poses and so forth. Chris then led a session on creative kitecraft, where ideas literally flew into the air. Wind conditions were perfect for kites that flew over a thousand feet into the sky.

I was deeply surprised by the simplicity of kite construction. Take two sticks, form a cross, cut a nice large piece of Tyvek, and tape it all up. Attach string. And summon the wind. Go fly a kite? No, go make a kite! You'll be glad that you did.

Posted by maeda at April 1, 2005 12:17 AM