A Fine Soup

On October 6, 2010, Design 001 at UC Davis cooked up some soup... of the stone variety. The concept of stone soup is to create something with the collective effort of a group, in order to benefit all who participate. For desgin 001, this involved seven individuals bringing their own materials to combine and create a piece of artwork. In many ways it felt reminiscent of a kindergarten activity, but not in a negative way. This activity allowed our group to get to know each other better as individuals and designers, as well as work together to make something out of (almost) nothing.

Upon selecting our location for working, we unloaded our materials onto the lawn and observed our newly formed junk pile. Materials ranged from paper bags and cardboard, to old bike tire tubes and glitter glue. In a situation such as this, we took the standard design approach and decided to start sketching. However, upon glancing at the materials in front of us, we decided against sketching and thought it would be more efficient to dig in and start shaping our work. Upon showing the group a large piece of brown packing paper that I brought, there was an instant reply of “That would make a great tree trunk”. From that simple idea our project goal was formed. We would create a tree out of  junk.

In order to create an upright tree trunk, we decided to use a nearby lamp post as our means of forming it. As we wrapped, someone decided to intertwine the bike tubes with the tree, giving a “vine” effect. Before long we were wrapping and stuffing materials all over the trunk in order to create a “Recycled Junk Tree”. As the process continued more and more ideas flowed, such as creating branches from paper bags and cardboard tubes, as well as leaves from green coupons in a coupon book. The culminating figure in the piece was a cardboard box wrapped around the base of the post, in order to give the effect that this junk tree had grown right out of the box of junk.

Upon completion, we took a step back to realize we had just created a concept, and built without much planning or strategy. Although this may not be ideal design practice, it is a perfect way to stir one's creativity and expand it through the ideas of others in the group. That is what our stone soup was about: utilizing group creativity to create something that would benefit each individual involved. Once the activity was over and we ventured to observe other groups designs, I couldn't help but constantly think of new ideas of ways to improve our piece, as well as entirely new concepts for the same materials. It was truly a valuable experience for exercising one's creative mind.