Tim Gunn

Years and years ago I worked at Parsons School of Design in New York, where I got to know Tim Gunn. Tim Gunn has gone on to become quite famous from the television show “Project Runway.” So when there was a large feature article about him in the New York Times yesterday, I read with interest.

He recently left Parsons to accept a position with Liz Claiborne. Of this move, and the changes from academia to the business world, he said,

“I’ve been living in a rarefied bubble, really, for a total of 29 years. Because we were dealing with theory, we could write our own scenarios, where nothing ever fails and nothing is ever lost in the shipping process. It’s a very different universe.”

Aha! Theory! Theory can really get in the way, can’t it? For creativity to work, you’ve got to get your feet wet, get a little rough-and-tumble, mix it up (and all those other cliches). Theory is safe and know-able. With creativity, you’ve got to be willing to get a little messy and see what happens. Every once in a while something will “get lost in the shipping process”, but always be willing to look beyond the “rarefied bubble” of theory.

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