The Beet Street Blog

I’ve been thinking more about creative economy.  Under a heading of “key concepts” for creative economy, creativeclusters.com states that “creativity is the key factor driving development.”  Their position is that, “[a]cross the world, enterprises based on individual creativity are booming.  Furthermore, knowledge and culture-based activities now play a central role in the activities of all businesses. This is the era of the creative economy.”

One of the ideas behind creative economy, is that up until now, the industrial age harnessed human creativity to focus on mass production.  In order to create the most profit, industrial manufacturing standardized products to appeal to the largest group of people possible.  Employees and consumers were not imagined as individuals but as a target market who could be convinced that they all wanted (and needed!) the same things.  The mindset that drove this kind of production, pushed us to collectively separate creative wealth and power from economic wealth and power.  Proponents of creative economy argue that today, many people still maintain this distinction, to the point of believing that creativity and economics are binary opposites.  All over the world, we’ve bought into the idea that economic and creative activity require distinct types of behavior, learning and language.  Our institutions reflect this paradigm, so that our education and political systems separate the arts, science, and business from each other.

Steampunk Space Helmet

As I work to process these concepts of creativity, the Steampunk movement provides me with fantastic visuals of what human imagination can produce and even sell.  Steampunk starts with concepts rooted in fantasy and speculative fiction set in the era of steam power—usually 19^th century, Victorian England.  The twist is that elements of science fiction, fictional technology or real technology are added to the unique mix.  If you’ve never heard of Steampunk, do a web search and be amazed at the exquisite examples you’ll find.  Steampunk fashion provides limitless individual examples, like an elaborate Victorian bustle dress adorned with discarded pocket watches.  A closer look reveals that the dress has been sewn out of a surplus military parachute. Rooted in the remnants of industrial production, Steampunk narratives, ideas and objects, explore the past and the present to imagine the future.  I read somewhere that science fiction allows us to emotionally cope with change.  Steampunk shows that we can proceed with unlimited imagination and style!  A new creative economy is as possible as our collective imagination.

Have old goggles, will travel!

Thanks for the photos JoesSistah, pashasha, Lush.i.ous, and  Foxtongue !

Deborah Lombard