I was speaking at the Innotown design conference at Aalesund in Norway.
This is a small town that has been running a very effective and charming
design conference each year. At the conference I met Lionel Poilane who is
the son of a baker and set out to make bread in a traditional manner - but
to do it very well. His bread is now famous in much of Europe. Menus
feature 'Poilane bread'. He built a large baker just outside Paris and
supplies three per cent of the bread in Paris as well as exporting, by
courier, bread to the USA and other countries. He is a classic example of
using creativity to do something traditional in an innovative way. This
applies both to his design of the bakery, his way of treating staff, his
marketing, etc. So often we think of creativity only in terms of new
products and services. There is, however, just as much need for creativity
in carrying out in an effective way something that in the end is very
traditional. Nothing could be more traditional than traditional bread.
Edward de Bono nmt
16th June 2002
Malta
Go to top