On (Not) Being Creative During the Lockdown

I shared some of my thoughts on creativity (or a lack of) during lockdown with the lovely folks over at Creative Dundee recently. It was quite a scary thing to write about, I felt incredibly vulnerable sharing some of my most inner most thought and fears with the wider design community, but it turns out I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Since the blog went live I’ve had so many lovely messages from other designers and makers reaching out to say they feel the same way, and that my blog post helped them feel less alone.

Things have shifted since I wrote the blog - I’ve started to feel a bit of creativity seeping back in and I’ve found the motivation to start experimenting with new materials, even if I am still locked out of my studio. But a lot of my worries are still there, and I don’t see them leaving anytime soon, so I’ve shared a little excerpt of the blog below (and a link to the full article) for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation. You’re not alone.

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“Lockdown. What a rollercoaster. I wish I was using this time to be creative, to read and look and be inspired. To catch up on the tasks I usually neglect, and to experiment with new ways of making. But instead, I’ve found myself feeling completely void of any creativity and inspiration. The sketchbooks that I usually tote around everywhere with me “just in case” have sat unopened. The myriad of other creative projects that are usually fighting to get out of me are dormant. I even bought a bag of clay, in a sudden burst of enthusiasm, with a plan to use this time to experiment with hand-building some new forms and shapes. But when I opened it, it turned out that my hands had been replaced by someone else’s. Someone who had clearly never touched a lump of clay in their life.”

Read the rest here