An Occasional Chair: Play as a Catalyst for Creativity

If we had not asked the question “what if?” it would have been just a normal project team meeting. “What if we make the chair an art object and only turn it into a chair when it needs to be a chair?” we wondered. We exchanged, and even laughed at, each other’s unrealistic ideas for the chair before moving on to more serious, and perhaps normal, project topics. No one would believe that we would build the chair at that moment.

Now, Payette people can spot a gigantic, inflated object emerging in the team’s area of the office. In a shape reminiscent of a toothpaste tube, the object is made of airtight nylon fabric, and people don’t fully know what it is until they are encouraged to sit on it. While they may think they are risking their lives, they find themselves being caught by a chair inside the object. The feeling of sinking into the chair and being embraced by the cloud-like object is so marvelous that people don’t want to stand up again. When they eventually get up, the chair is quickly re-inflated by two fans we cut out from one of the ever-present inflatable holiday decorations found on people’s lawns. Over the last few weeks, we have gathered a lot of feedback and ideas, and we have some major improvements in mind to bring our game to the next level.

One may still ask what the point of making all this is, because in the end it is simply a chair inside a big balloon. I would argue that, in addition to having some fun in the office, it has served as a catalyst for the team to throw creative ideas onto the table, no matter how nonsensical they may seem, because it may lead to a bigger idea. They might eventually be given up because they are too unrealistic or because there is too little time. But maybe all we need is a simple “what if” or “think about it” — a little playful spirit to take the idea one step further because playfulness is where creativity begins.