Creativity is Defined by You, You are Not Defined by Creativity

It was quiet, aside from the plasticy click of brick going onto brick. Across the table, Autumnal sunshine made dazzling highlights and deep shadows on the Lego builds. 

The rays should worry me, U.V. light bleaches or discolours Lego bricks, with many brick fans taking a vampire approach to displaying them. At the thought, I giggled – I was building a Vampyr Castle for our Halloween display. Seemed fitting.

Quiet never lasts, and unsurprisingly it was Guy who broke it with a ping followed by a grunt. He ducked down to the rug under our dining table, searching for the flyaway brick. His grin appeared above the table, and he stood to click a cone on top of his build. 

“Look, how cool is this?” Guy said. 

I pushed in my own brick, then a little reluctantly stepped around the table to have a look at his build.  Guy was building a Lego set – ‘Hocus Pocus, The Sanderson Sisters‘ based on the wonderful Disney movie. He’d been working on this build over the past two weekends, and today had added the second level. 

“It looks great,” I said, peering into the void where the roof would go. 

“No!” He said, “Look at the cleaning equipment.” 

I spotted what he thought needed admiration, and he was right. “A vacuum cleaner! And is that a disco floor?” 

“Oh. No, I think it’s a very large bed.” 

“What? Do all three sisters share that?” I’d clearly forgotten the movie. 

Guy continued to show me all the other little touches – a bat in the rafters, the cash register for the little shop below, the cauldron, the purple flames in the chimney – which went up and down with a spin of the waterwheel. He concluded his little showcase with a satisfied grunt. “How creative is that?” 

I returned to my own build across the table, re-energised by his enthusiasm. But I started questioning his statement. 

Guy was packing up his trays of bricks as I paused my own building and asked, “Is it creative? Do you feel creative?” 

“Huh?” His fingers paused over a small plastic container we both put our spare parts in. “What do you mean?” 

“You’re following someone else’s design and instructions. Does that make you feel creative?” 

He frowned. 

“Because,” I continued, “in that writing workshop I’m in, somebody came on with a comment saying they would never apply steps to their creative process. But it was on a post where a person had shared a stepped editing process, and of all the writing phases, editing and rewriting for publication needs structure. In my thinking, the comment was slightly out of context, but also got me wondering. At what point does the term ‘creative process’ become an oxymoron?” 

I couldn’t see Guy’s face, but if I were describing it in a fiction piece I’m sure his eyes were glazing over, even rolling in their sockets. Again, fitting for our halloween builds.

Still, I ploughed on, having simmered on this topic for days. “And…and…A day later, on a Facebook Lego group, somebody put up a post proudly showing off her latest build, and some a-hole Lego expert came on and commented that ‘It’s not creativity when you’re just following instructions and not creating something yourself’. Like, wham!” 

Phew. I took a breath.

There was a “peep!” and a bird shadow flapped across the table. Across Guy’s build the shadow looked like a bat.

“You gotta watch those so-called experts,” Guy said. 

I took a larger breath. I knew this, of course. But creativity is discussed so adamantly in my craft circles. All the damn time. And when it comes down to it, everyone’s concept of process and creating is different. But I hadn’t expected such pronounced opinions over what is creative or not – in a Lego Showoff group.  

I continued, hoping for less emotion. “I went and took a look, did some research, you know? There was a study by some business professors who found that people who build Lego with instructions aren’t being creative, but those who just build with a big lot of random bricks – they are.” 

“Business?” 

“Yes. It was a business paper.” 

Guy grinned. “Well, that explains the latest team building adventure that’s been sold to the company.” 

“Hmm?” 

“Team training days? Where we spend the day doing something creative – because all businesses know we need more creative people working for us, right?”

“Of course,” I replied, thinking back to my own corporate days. As an introvert, I’d hated those so-called team-building days where there was none of your own team, just random staff members, and requirements to ‘share’, often even role-play. Erk. I focused on searching for an elusive grey brick – my Halloween build is all grey, so most bricks are that colour, and most are elusive. 

Guy chuckled. “Dirty management secret – we don’t actually want all our staff to really be creative, you understand?” 

“Yeah, okay.” My hand swooshed across a tray-load of bricks, moving each aside in the search. There’s a certain sound of  groups of Lego bricks in movement. I particular like it.

“No. Nothing would get done. There’d be a whole lot of ideas and suggestions, but no action. What we’re really looking for in all staff is problem-solving skills.” 

Of course. “But problem-solving is basically creativity, right?” Or a form of it. 

“Yes, but with…” Guy shrugged.”Focus. I think.”  

“Focus.” I mused, “Structured creativity.”  Hmmm.

Guy nodded. “Businesses need solutions. That’s what those team-training sessions are really about, to give everyone the option to network with some new people in the business, but also, test out and learn how to problem solve.” 

“Okay, but what’s my Lego study have to do with that?” 

“Oh! Yes. Our H.R. were sold a training package by a company which comes in and dumps a load of Lego onto the table and then you have to build a robot.” 

“That sounds great!” I snapped a window glass into a frame. Love that sound.  

Guy said, “Maybe…I sent Kris and Raj from my teams. Kris came back laughing afterwards and told me Raj had a hard time.”

“Oh? A hard time with Lego?” So. I could empathise. Both Guy and I have only been building for a few months, and there are many tricks to getting bricks to form into a workable build and stay together.

Guy spun his build around, admiring the details again. “You know those training days. They give you team and individual exercises. And it becomes a competition.” 

Ah, I remembered well. I said, “And there’s always drawing and presentations.” I shook the dark memories away. “I was the ‘creative one’ – everyone thought I was, so I had to go up to the sheets of paper and draw things. It was horrible. Are they still doing that?”

“Yep.” 

“Did Raj not like it?  Not to stereotype him, I don’t know him. But most Indians I know like a chance to present, and  really like a competition.” 

“Not when they’re losing.” Guy grinned. “Kris said everybody knew who had made the best Lego robot, and that person got to go up and present how they had created it.” 

“Why did Raj have problems with that? Not everybody can make a good looking robot.” I wasn’t even sure that I could.

“His was the worst and everyone knew that too. The feet fell off the legs as soon as he held it up. He smashed it down onto the table and an arm or some kind of appendage – Kris wasn’t sure – bounced off and ricocheted into the facilitator’s face. Then after he’d apologised, Raj demanded to know why they didn’t have instructions for people like him who’d never played with Lego before.” 

“Good point.” I said, “Which circles back to that study I found. The exercise was meant to make him feel more creatively free, to just build.” 

Guy shook his head. “I’m guessing Raj didn’t feel that freedom, and honestly, I don’t really blame him. All those training environments work on time constraints and are turned into competitions, even if the facilitator doesn’t mean it to. It’s human nature.”

I had found my missing piece and was working on building a large block of glass wall formed between two axles. I knew once the wall was built I would be instructed to click both sides into the awaiting technic bricks. Then I would pivot the whole wall down and it would become an angled skylight roof. 

But I knew this from previously following instructions in other builds. I remembered the wonder when I first encountered this roof building method – to create something flat and suddenly realise that it was actually a roof built horizontally and top-down. 

“Raj was right.” I said. “When we started out, we had no clue how to build for stability or balance, or any inspiring techniques. That’s why I haven’t built that big shopping mall I keep talking about. First, I have to build these other designs to learn techniques in building. That’s what Raj was saying.” I looked up for his reaction. 

Guy’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yep. It was an unfair playing ground. Kris said the winner – the person who got to present his robot and problem-solving skills – was a Dad who built robots and cars with his two sons all the time. A big advantage.”

“They should have at least provided some inspiring pictures or something, or allowed help in some of the technical side,” I suggested. 

Guy made an ahah noise, like he’d made a point. I pursed my mouth. 

He said, “But you said the study suggested it’s more creative to just play with a lot of bricks. I’m guessing that’s what your Facebook expert believed,  and that’s what the training business believed and sold us.” 

“Did Raj come out feeling he was more creative?” I made my argument.

Guy laughed. “I’m guessing the opposite, but Kris enjoyed the day, but she claims she’s not creative herself. I think she is, she presents really well. Really creative presentations too.” 

“What about Raj?” 

“If I was to choose between Kris and Raj, I’d pick Raj if I needed a technical problem solved. He’s really motivated to find solutions and build them. He loves that kind of technical stuff.” 

My hand hovered over a black pole I was inserting onto the top of a tower. Next door needed an owl sitting on there. Did I have a Lego owl? I’d have to check my stash of animals. It wasn’t following the design totally, but there was always room for modifications. 

I busied myself, one brick here, search for another, consult the glossy diagrams for the next step, add a set of bricks, hands in motion, turn the page, turn the page back, check I hadn’t missed a step because that slanted roof didn’t look right. Oh wait, it wasn’t set in on that side. Next step, I was looking at a cylindrical tower, and an even higher pole. Great, maybe that owl could…

“Er-hem!” 

I jolted.
“Sorry.” I guess I was in flow. “You were saying…um? Something?”

“We were talking about Raj.*You* asked.”

“Oh, oh yeah. I…ah…I think you just admitted that Raj is – by your business standards, already creative, or at least a great problem solver. Right?” 

Guy nodded. “Yep. So my point is – your Lego study only works in some situations. Raj couldn’t build a robot from Lego straight off, but he’s still a great resource. Maybe the study is for kids?” 

I frowned. “It was a business study, but there’s lots of studies over kids too – Lego even has one, again showing that letting kids build with just a pile of blocks extends their creativity. Lego for kids teaches them all kinds of things – hand-eye co-ordination, spatial awareness, problem solving and um, something called…” I searched my memory, “Ah, creative confidence. There’s a huge connection into schools in using Lego to build all that. Lego sells classic brick packs for kids to build that, um, confidence too. Without instructions, of course.”

Guy laughed. I looked up from my pole building. “What?” 

He shrugged. “I was in the Lego store the other day. Not saying why…but it was coming up to Mother’s Day…” 

I smiled. He’d gotten me the new Minions builds for Mother’s Day. “So?”

“It was school holidays, so the Store had lots of activities for the kids in there too. They could build freely, of course, from the pick-a-brick walls – bricks were all over the floor by-the-way. Or the staff were putting on building activities for Mother’s Day.” 

He came around to admire – no, analyse how close I was to being finished for the day myself. He likes us to finish up at the same time. A family that builds together stays together, I imagine. 

“So?” 

Guy continued. “The tables were packed with kids and parents – including two mothers too. And they were building these brick gift baskets, or love-hearts and something I couldn’t identify… Anyway, there was a big pile of bricks for each build, the staff had already selected the bricks, and everyone – including the parents – was grabbing at them.It was an absolute mess.”

“A creative mess?” 

He frowned, not appreciating the joke.

I looked at him for the punchline, slapping away his hand as it adjusted the pole. The diagrams showed it going straight up, but mine had a jaunty angle, which I thought fitting for a haunted house. 

Guy said, “They were all working to a little printed out instruction sheet.” 

I grinned. “I guess sometimes we all need instructions to be creative. It makes things easier for a Make and Take, for sure.” 

Guy nodded. “Even Lego. Oh, I didn’t answer your question earlier.” 

“Huh? Which one?” 

“You asked me if I felt creative building Lego.” 

“Okay.” But I knew the answer already. 

“My answer is – of course! Even with instructions. I don’t get to build with my hands in my work, I can’t draw like you can, I’m not so artsy-fartsy. But with Lego, I get to create things. I make things! Isn’t that all there is? To be creative, just create?”

Hmmm. That is exactly what I’d been musing over. I tried paraphrasing it. “So true creativity is creating or making something which didn’t exist before?”

“Yep,” Guy continued, with a satisfied pat on my arm. “That’s real creativity. At least for me anyway. Ready for coffee?” 

He had already moved across to the kitchen. 

“Besides,” he leant across the counter, “Nobody gets to tell me whether I’m being creative or not. I get to define that for myself.”

I set my build aside, and walked down our hallway towards the Lego room. I really wanted that owl. Behind me the coffee machine started gurgling.