Amongst the chaos of creating a studio I am treating
myself to further time musing on the criteria used for judging beadwork
competitions. This week my musings are focused on ‘novelty’. What is it, how do we create it
in beadwork and do we always want it?
Novelty
is from the Latin word for "new" – novas. Hence, most
dictionary definitions of novelty emphasise ‘newness’ and ‘freshness’. In the
world of design a novel design differs from all previous designs so it cannot
replicate or simulate a natural object or prior art and design – such as a
specific building, logo or object that already exists. It must have a
specific and seeable "point of departure from prior art." It must
have a ‘point of novelty’ that is identifiable.
Extending
on that, the novel is often surprising and within this it may be striking,
unusual or amusing. It may please or displease. It may make us smile with
ecstasy or squirm in agony. Novelty may be nice, but it may nasty.
For
instance, as a beader you may create novelty by putting two or more things
together in new ways – combining beading stitches, bead colours or types of
beads together in new ways. Your ‘point
of departure from prior beadwork’ may be your stitch combinations, your colour combinations
or your bead combinations, or all three. You may bead a blue cat or a green sun
using beads made from colour pencils or something equally unusual.
Your
specific combination of stitches, colours or beads may surprise, amuse or jar.
It may be pleasing or not. It may make others smile or squirm. So, as you aim
to create novelty in your beadwork you may need to take a moment to muse on how
others may respond to its newness. Will it be with agony or ecstasy or
somewhere in between? Is there a good reason why those specific colours have
never been put together in that way before or why nobody has tried combining
those specific stitches?
There
is evidence from psychological studies of creativity that many people are
biased against the novel – they find it scary, agonising and unpleasant. So,
the more novel your beadwork the more others may agonise when they see it. Try
taking your own novelty bias test by visiting The Ugly Necklace Contest
website. How do you respond to the novelty – with agony or with ecstasy?
As
you muse on this you may want to reflect on the opening verse from a poem by
Samuel Nze, titled, ‘Novelty requires strength’:
Novelty
requires strength;
We need to be strong
To break those fetters
That cage us in,
We need to be strong
To break those fetters
That cage us in,
Sources
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