Stone Soup

Last week in my Introduction to Design class, we arranged into our small groups and explored the notion of a Stone Soup for Designers.

Stone Soup, although a children's story, can also be seen as a learned process for working with others.

My group brought together supplies; a box, paper, sparkly glue, old tubes, and bassoon reeds to name just a few. We independently looked through what we had and did some sketching, then finally came together and collaborated about what we were going to create.

As we started, each of us explained our initial ideas and how we thought we could best approach the project. As more and more ideas came out in the open, the more excited and creative everybody became. It was interesting to observe the creative process in stages during the Stone Soup exercise. There was a beginning point, where we thought a lot about what materials we had, and what kinds of things we could do with those materials. There was also a definite climax to our creativity—sometime after we had decided on the subject matter and some of the tasks that needed to be accomplished.

What started as a "flower-decorated table" turned into a colorful bus (pictured above) with differently patterned hub-caps and little dancing men in each window. There is even landscaping and a pool on the roof. Making sure not to trample over anyone's ideas, we each listened and spoke and worked together and created this interesting, imaginative, designed thing which brought us together and taught us a little something about being on a team.

Photographer: Michelle Huey.