From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Wine making is also alchemy, not everything is controllable – you are dealing with nature. There's a savage element to all of this. A great winemaker is an artist.
I looked at her and said, 'that's impossible! If I had stolen these pears from you… you would never have seen me!'
We always have this mix in each area, but people tend to categorise creativity by discipline rather than by the individuals within those disciplines.
Being creative is about being a collective. It's not something unique. Cirque is not a one man, or a one woman show. It's a collective. That's why we can nurture each other's creativity.
We have these floods of ideas when we allow ourselves to slow down – you get this pent-up energy that flows out of you.
I was 5 years old when I went to see it and when I came back, I remember thinking 'that's exactly what I'm going to do, I want to be a film-maker, I want to make people disappear, reappear, sing on screen and make beautiful love story.' That was the moment I decided, and I haven't looked back since.
It sounds strange but my system came to me in a sort-of almost otherworldly way. It was very powerful.
We have to interact with everyone so no one feels left out or ashamed; these negative emotions can kill curiosity and creativity.
We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans- because we can… We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings… That's why we paint, that's why we dare to love someone- because we have the impulse to explain who we are.
What it means to be creative is pretty simple. It's to do something human, something generous, something that might not work. It has to be all 3 of those things. You will find creative accountants, politicians, housekeepers and engineers… being creative is to solve interesting problems!
I don't really think about legacy, I'm more interested in my next thing, my next project… my writing is driven by a love of music, and an affection for being around music, and for telling stories… I don't have a grand plan; this is my life.
Creative process by its nature involves figuring out all the things that don't work on your way to figuring out the things that do. You can't have it both ways…