Stone Soup

In the children's book Stone Soup by Marcia Brown, three soldiers wander into a town searching for food. Through the soldiers' encouragement, the towns members all contribute a little bit of what they can into a large pot of "stone soup." In the end, the townspeople learn that when everyone shares and contributes what they have to one great big pot of soup, a delicious meal is created.



This not only applies to soup, but to design as well. Despite the fact that only one name is known on a piece of apparel (take for instance, Ed Hardy, Louis Vuitton, or Calvin Klein), there are usually a team of people that work together to produce an item. A few years ago, I met a family friend of mine who works for Ed Hardy. While we walked around a shopping mall, he pointed to a sneaker and said, "Oh, I designed that one." I was in awe as I replied, "Wow, you design these sneakers for Ed Hardy?" He then explained to me that he was just one of a large group of designers that contributed to the making of the designs and the shoes. I had always thought that a design was only done by one main designer. However, since then, I have learned that design is very much a field where both individuals and groups of people come together to create something fresh.

By taking part in the stone soup activity in class yesterday, the idea of contribution for creation has been reinforced. If everyone had worked alone, I don't think that we could have created the great works that we did. This activity really brought us together not only as thinkers but as a community, too.

Here are some examples of our creations below:

Our group



Other groups



Photo Credits:
viatouch.com
Jenny Fan
Amanda Yib
Kim Losenara
Amanda Yib