How Creative Minds Get Inspired

The idea for this post came to me when I stumbled on some of my old photos (below) of New Orleans artist Kaki Foley's shotgun cottage. Kaki is an incredible talent when it comes to faux finishing and faux painting anything, but she also has an eye for things with a delicate, European influence that aren't fussy or cliche in the least.

In addition to the front parlor, which was white from floor to ceiling and dappled with a hundred different colors of paint she used on various projects, I loved her kitchen. The room was memorable because Kaki had created art by simply tacking photos up that inspired her right beside the spot where she takes her morning coffee or tea. The colors in the photos were soft, like those she uses in her work, and looking at that composition no doubt inspired much of that.

Which got me thinking about other artists, architects, and designers I admire and what they look at in the morning before work or even at the office to get the creative juices flowing for their next projects.

A few phone calls and emails later, I had a compelling collection of images from some of my favorite folks. They follow below:

 1) Natalie Chanin, fashion designer. I love the colors. I love the bits of fabric and the simple drawings of upcoming pieces. I .love all of it.

2) Gil Schafer, classical architect. The images of historic homes tacked up behind him were used to stimulate ideas for new construction meant to look old.

3) Michael Moran, wood worker. Michael's modern wood furniture designs are built by hand using wood with a Southern backstory (like fallen logs from the grounds of Monticello, for example). This wall serves as his mood board, and it's marked up from floor to ceiling with hand drawings of pieces he's already made, pieces that will soon be finished, and pieces yet to be milled.

4) Sid Mashburn, menswear designer. I'm crazy about the overscale tartan fabric that all his creative ephemera is tacked to. Like his clothes, his mood board is rooted in traditionalism but flecked with edgy, modern twists too.

5) My mood board at the Garden & Gun office. So, I have nothing on the designers and artist listed above, clearly! But I wanted to post this because if you look close, really close, you'll see that Natalie, Gil, Michael, and Sid all make an appearance on the board in one way or another (magazine clips, line sheets, photo shoot outtakes, and the like). And just like that, it all comes full circle.

If you have a photo of a mood board of your own or one belonging to someone you look to for inspiration, send it to: editorial@gardenandgun.com. I'd love to take a look!