CreativeMornings is a free, monthly breakfast lecture series for creative types.
For the latest on upcoming events, head over to creativemornings.com or follow us @creativemorning.
Ostrich Pillow Light is the little brother of Ostrich pillow, a portable nap pod designed by the good people at kawamura-ganjavian. These pillows are made in a small town in Spain and revived a dying factory.
Key Portilla-Kawamura also gave a CreativeMornings talk in Geneva on happiness. Check it out. →
Key Portilla-Kawamura also gave a CreativeMornings talk in Geneva on happiness. Check it out. →
littleBits have joined up with Korg to create the Synth Kit, making it super easy for novices and experts alike to create music. If you’re not familiar with littleBits, they’re tiny circuit-boards with specific functions engineered to snap together with magnets.
Our fascination with them began the moment founder and CEO Ayah Bdeir took the stage at our September New York event where the theme was “Connect.” She’s an engineer, and one of the leaders of the Maker movement with a career and education centered on advancing open source hardware to make education and innovation more accessible to people around the world.
The Synth Kit looks like an awesome gift for kids and adults alike—connecting to speakers, computers, and headphones and allowing you to make your own instruments.
“If Haiti could turn trash into money, that would be good.”
That was on Ian Rosenberger’s mind as he penned his first journal entry in Haiti. Following the earthquake, Ian, a Pittsburgh photographer and videographer came to the area to document the tragedy and destruction to create awareness.
Ian forged deep relationships with locals, going as far as to bring a young boy named Tassy back with him to the states for life-saving surgery. After returning the boy to his home, he realized that that wasn’t enough, going on to found Team Tassy, then Thread, a company that creates products from trash—and therefore jobs—for Haitians.
How does a photographer start a business formed around recycling trash to create jobs? Watch his talk.
Aaron Moodie, Product Designer at Etsy
speaking at CreativeMornings/Melbourne(*watch the talk)
He speaks on the Top 43 Lessons he learned the hard way, covering everything from launching viral marketing campaigns to hiring great employees. Read through them below.
Now is the best time in the history of the world to start something.
It’s doesn’t have to be a company, it can be a project, a nonprofit, a film..
Everyone has distribution to the whole entire world.
If you’re a creative, you’re only limited by your creativity.
There is no perfect idea.
No great ideas are great on paper.
Jump in.
It hurts.
You’ll figure it out on the way down.
It’s hard to learn from the sidelines.
It’s all about execution.
If you can execute, a good or bad idea, you can make it happen.
The idea is 1%.
Tell everyone your idea.
When you tell people your ideas, you get more from them.
Find a wingman with complementary skills.
You can’t do it by yourself.
Hire for passion. You want to have passionate people.
Send potential employees an industry article. See how they respond.
Passion is the key.
Do unscalable stuff.
You need to be a do-er.
Do stuff even an intern wouldn’t do.
Tap your local market.
Grow your initial base.
Brand is huge.
Before you do anything, create something remarkable.
If people don’t like your product, the rest doesn’t matter.
Hire a designer and copywriter.
People have to enjoy and like using your product.
Take opportunities and risks to build brands from the ground up.
Delight in all places. Even the smallest of details.
Hide Easter eggs. Everywhere.
Average loses on the web every single time.
Your competitor is a click away.
Don’t be average.
Brand, not technology, is the great differentiator.
No one shares a shitty brand.
T-shirt test: The company that’s created a solid brand is a company whose t-shirt you would want to wear.
There are a million ways to make it happen.
It’s easy to make an impact in Atlanta.
Nothing better than being in the game.
Share either an image or description of your favorite project—either yours or someone else's—that repurposes what would otherwise be waste to give it a new life!
Ever wanted to disappear from the world for a little bit? Take a power nap? Studio kawamura-ganjavian knows how you feel. That’s why they created the Ostrich Pillow.
Key Portilla-Kawamura and Ali Ganjavian are the genius designers behind this product, and were also the speakers at last Friday’s CreativeMornings/Geneva.
Paddy Harrington, Executive Creative Director at Bruce Mau Design
speaking at CreativeMornings/Toronto(*watch the talk)
William Deresiewicz, Writer and Critic
speaking at CreativeMornings/Portland (*watch the talk)