Two creative forces (gj)

Starting from this summer (2025), I have been steadily working on a project called Subtle Weight. The deliverables are expected to be three-dimensional and spatial, and more than that, writings and drawings documenting the development process of the project are part of it as well.

It is pivoted around hands-on exploration and intuitive decisions in the process of making, or more precisely, making something simple. And “something simple” sets the tone of the rules of this “game”. 

For example, for the first object in this project, I have set the rule that it should be only about or derived from a frame miter joint. (insert an image here)

The next question that naturally follows is, now where do we go from here. The “trail of creativity” (insert link to the opening blog) of this project was intentionally defined as a three-phase process: the stroll, the structure, and the stream. Each phase has a distinct set of questions and ways of thinking that needs to be applied. And personally, I almost think of the “me” working in each phase taking up a different “design personality”, hence the three words I have chosen for each phase.

The Stroll phase is about not caring too much about the final form but focus on picking up every little inspiration or intuition and taking a stab at every little idea that comes to mind. 

The Stream phase is about having a clear destination, whether it being a visual form, an experience that can be clearly articulated, or else, and pushing all resources and efforts towards reaching it. 

The Structure phase is the inbetween phase where the crystallization of idea, the rationalization of steps of operation, and the testing of iterations happen.

And to further discuss the use of these three words, just as to discuss the formation of some type of personality or simply “mentality”, it could be useful to try to establish the core driving forces that, when working together in one way or another, shaped this mindset that defines each phase.

The problem-solution force and the craft-exploration force. These are not any new words in the discourse of discussing art and making. And when I start to visualize what these two forces are and how their relations with each other and with an individual’s creative process can be illustrated. It became possible to relate these two forces in several ways, visually,  such as, the two ends of a spectrum, or the axes that can define coordinates, or segments in one linear element.

The analogy of a spectrum can help establish a straightforward difference between the “stroll” and “stream”, the craft-exploration force is the major driving force for the stroll phase, while the problem-solution force is the major driving force for the stream phase. But the spectrum does not help much to explain what exactly is the structure phase.

The analogy of two coordinates help explain the level of complexity or difficulty of what the two forces need to tackle in each of the phases. As in either the stroll phase or stream phase, it takes less of switching gears between the two forces, and the task of forces are easily understood:

In the Stroll phase, the task of the craft-exploration force is to simply keep making new and different versions from the rules given and materials assigned. The task of problem-solution force is to keep track of the various iterations and start building patterns out of them. Though being the “afterthought” of free exploration, the problem-solution forces require more vigilance and awareness of what is going on without interfering.

In the Stream phase, tasks of both forces are very clearly delineated, which means, it is only a matter of execution and rational thinking, without much challenge of inventive thinking process. And the focus of the craft-exploration force is precision of craft.

And in the Structure phase, the ratio of problem-solution force and craft-exploration force does not seem to have a clear difference. The level of difficulty or challenge for each force in terms of a coordinate system, depends on the specific nature of the object as well as the subjective inspiration of the artists (me).

It is what is in the structure phase that is inspiring me to document, analyze and write about the "discourse of craft”, as it is a set of variable possible chemical reactions between two ingredients. And each object in the project of Subtle Weight, is meant to illustrate the many variations.