Speculation

Creativity thrives on speculation.

Speculative design occurs where there is a significant unknown. Typically, a gap in the craftsperson’s knowledge or experience, it often manifests in theoretical design or physical production. Driving risk or empowering certainty, the size of the gap largely determines subjective success or failure, and aspects such as quality (See David Pye).

In a purely creative context, certainty leads to known, unoriginal work, whereas risk is a pathway to original, creative work. Therefore, a prerequisite of creativity is risk – a willingness to fail.

Ideally, a creative practice blends both these positions. Certain work makes significant financial sense while speculative work inspires, nurturing long term creativity.