From where does the creative drive stem? These past few weeks I have been riding the waves of creativity, one week constantly in front of the computer with a serious drive to create, and the next, trying to run out of work as quickly as possible to hop on the bike. It is a difficult balance between keeping attention directed towards the design aspects of my life, and to the other socio-athletic interests. Being creative for a living, I am constantly hunting down inspirational work, and things that just make me want to constantly be thinking of my life in a critical method, in other words, designing my life. Often times, design magazines are a great source for this. The most recent STEP has a great selection of pieces from the past year and displays a great retrospective of work from throughout the country in different mediums, formats, and styles. Recently, however, the most inspirational items I have found are interior design and fashion.

I cannot be sure if this is a result of myself becoming a designer, or a reflection of how I found my path towards design, but I have always been interested in interior design. Currently, trying to find nice furniture to decorate and spatially divide my apartment is a fun and challenging task. Trying to learn about furniture, finding intricacies in detail and design is one part. Realizing the quality costs, and what makes the quality in particular designs is hard to see at first, but the other part. Playing with spaces and how items can affect flow and feel of a room, as well as learning how to achieve your goals on a very limited budget is a design task that is very rewarding for myself. I put a lot of stock in a home, and when it feels nice, I feel nice. *Just a note, but less is always more.

A common thing I try and do is weekly, or at least bi-weekly, spend time in a magazine shop (Borders) reading the current issues of any design related magazine. Recently being hooked on magazines like Dwell, Surface, Wallpaper, GQ, and the normal design mags like Grafik, CMYK, and Idea, I have been feeling more inspired by the former selections. Looking at design as a lifestyle rather than an occupation, and that everything I do, from dressing myself to how I furnish my apartment, is 'designed.' Such is a reason why I am becoming interested in Fashion Design.

Dustin has been running Cadence clothing for awhile now, and seeing how he develops his clothes and brand has made me wish I knew more about the construction of clothing. I wish I could alter and create clothing as I liked, making adjustments to garments I purchase where ever seemingly necessary. As my lifestyle changes, I am becoming more interested in how I present myself, at work and with other people. Starting to look at fashion shows and trends to what I would call 'designed' clothing, I am placing value into the opinions of people and their designs. People like J. Lindeberg, Dries Van Noten, or Martin Margiela. What I find in a number of these designers is casual-refined clothing. Things I can wear anytime and look 'nice' but not overly dressed. As a designer I can appreciate that aspect of versatility while keeping a nice design. Other designers like Wood Wood and Ann Hagen are equally interesting for their takes on wardrobes and cuts (the terms here are probably wrong, but I am not a fashion designer, and still trying to learn. Work with me here), but I personally am not quite ready to wear some of those styles on the street. By exploring fashion designers, I am able to pick the things out that I like, then make them happen, but shopping cheaply (H&M, which is frankly the shit in my opinion) or finding things on sale. Seeing how Dustin is able to approach Cadence, also makes me wish I could place my own voice into the construction of the clothing. Learn how to sew, make hems, how to cut fabric, etc. Learning how the medium works seems like a necessary step in educating about fashion.

As a designer, I want to be able to communicate through all aspects of my life, through graphic print work, clothing, or my apartment. It is all at the very least a communication of myself. As I learn more about these other areas that I am not formally trained in, I try to learn as much as possible so I can 'design' with a knowledge of the subject matter. Hopefully in the future, if I am ever lucky enough to be running my own studio, I will be able to play in fashion and interior design, and this introductory period would be helpful. But for now, I will take the inspiration from whatever sources, and anything that gets me excited about design in general.