Ruskin inspires

"From the most insignificant circumstance, — from a bird on a railing, a wooden bridge over a stream, a broken branch, a child in a pinafore, or a waggoner in a frock, does the artist derive amusement, improvement, and speculation.", wrote John Ruskin, the Victorian polymath.(1819-1900). For Ruskin, speculation about principles depended on observation of particularities. He thought visually revelling in stringing together a potentially endless series of associations on an ‘imaginary’ thread. His art was always purposeful, integral to his thinking on all subjects. He worked out and visualised his ideas through drawing. And so Ruskin inspires designers to explore, observe, and speculate (what if?) looking for how things (material culture) can be improved. Indeed from the most insignificant circumstance design ideas spring.