A lot of cleaning happened last week- Dishwashing, Laundry, and the never ending task of putting toys in their proper place. If you are a parent, you probably know what I’m talking about..
In the process of cleaning and organizing I realized my kids don’t play with their toys because they simply can’t see them! Not only that, when their space feels empty it invites them to fill it with their own creativity and inspiration.
We live in a culture where we are strategically bombarded with unnecessary things to grab our attention. Personally I found it’s hard to listen to my intuition without some level of emptiness and quiet to invite it to speak.
Here’s a drawing of Milt Kahl and a young Richard Williams on whether Milt listened to music:
What I got from this story wasn’t a rule that everyone should or shouldn’t listen to music when animating. It was more about how Milt Kahl’s personal magic worked: By minimizing distractions for himself he was able to create a pocket of emptiness where he could fully explore questions and solutions in a way every element could be heard, felt and touched in his mind and on the paper.
The magic of minimalism is that the elements that are left can be seen, heard, felt, and even tasted more. The juxtaposition between contrasting relationships become also heightened.
But taken a step further from minimalism is the idea of emptiness. Kenya Hara, Muji’s preeminent art director, distinguished emptiness from minimalism this way. “To offer an empty vessel is to pose a single question and to be wholly ready to accept the huge variety of answers,” says Hara.
Kenya Hara in his book on Designing Design, described this concept in the design of the space of a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
By stripping away and gracefully embodying ever design element with the idea of emptiness (the empty garden, the empty teahouse, empty decorations) it’s thought that it invited energy in.
By introducing a change in that environment with a specific tea with a specific taste and smell, it’s thought that it could be a more heightened transformative experience.
also found this quote from Rick Rubin that hit hard:
So think less, day dream more*
Cheers*