Observe and Experiment

Experimentation

The Learning Garden

a collection and garden of thought

A number of us have observations and questions that can’t be answered by conventional knowledge or ideas where orthodox methods may seem insufficient. In the struggle to feed our natural curiosity, we turn to other means and attempts to “innovate.” It isn’t so much to reject conventional practice rather it’s to inform ourselves about the limitations and inadequacies of existing archetypes. Doing so not only allows us to see them as prototypes³but we are then able to elevate our knowledge and consciousness about the world we live in — a perspective that is most apparent in the scientific (design) method (Fig. 1).

The method itself is an iterative process progressing from internal insights to externalizations and back again, for which, design and the creative process should be treated similarly. Habi in essence is the physicality of the process, a platform where my work can be “viewed and reviewed, drawn, and redrawn, construed and reconstrued by (myself) and others,” a peer review of sorts.¹

“Why are we afraid? Ignorance binds us and stops us from moving forward, to search for life, to be open-minded and to believe in ourselves.” 4

Fluidity in Growth & Learning

We often forget about the complexity that makes humans truly unique. There is no one attribute that defines who we are, rather it’s a mixture of our beginnings, experiences, the places in between and the unknown. Growth and education being an implementation of daily accumulated knowledge and skills should be established in a way that supports this complexity: where it may be ignorance that we choose to stay in an individual discipline’s respective center.

The Learning Garden is the process of studying all disciplines and the borders that connect them.²I found that our creativity is most purposeful (if not maximized) when you place yourself in an environment where unreserved exploration and vulnerability is celebrated.