"playing with the studio 360 staff for an afternoon under laurie rosenwald's yoda-ish supervision was, like eating a certain candy bar, indescribably delicious. and unlike eating a candy bar, it was also sublimely useful."

-kurt andersen
host of the peabody award-winning public radio show studio 360

“this experience loosened up my uptight intellectual mindset like nothing else.”

-ellen lupton
director, graphic design mfa program
maryland institute college of art

“this workshop gives even the smartest student a totally new view on visual force and speed.
it’s fun, fast and very useful!”

-tom hedqvist
principal, beckmans college of design
stockholm

“laurie rosenwald runs the workshop with no name, no direction and takes no prisoners. make no mistake though, it works.  students have fun, get creative in a completely intuitive and accidental way, and get pushed to stop thinking and just “make stuff.”  be afraid, be very afraid.”

-lawrence zeegen
academic progamme leader, school of arts and communication
university of brighton, uk

“fun, cool, a wrong-thinking, crazy, intuitive, inspiring, top brain, collaborative, bottom brain, and definitely not business as usual.”

-john bielenberg
co-founder and managing member, c2
project m

“laurie teaches by forcing-through the sheer power of her personality and in-your-face determination-everyone let go of their preconceptions.  this workshop magically reveals that one of the worst ways to solve a problem is to set out to do just that.  like a rabbit out of a hat, laurie reveals this surprising insight: start with an answer, any answer will do-then go find the problem is solves.”

-greg galle (starbucks creative camp)
co-founder and managing member, c2

“by encouraging me to make mistakes on purpose, laurie showed me how to embrace my inner failure.  in so doing, she introduced me to her own special kind of “failure judo,” turning a perceived weakness into something personal, unique, and powerful. woe shall befall my pathetic enemies now.  thanks, laurie!”

-alex isley, creative director and partner
alexander isley inc.

“laurie’s workshop was a blast.”

-cyrus highsmith
senior designer, font bureau, inc.

One day Georges de Mestral went for a walk in the woods. He got some burrs stuck on his pants. He played around with ’em.  He thought, “What could this be?” And now we have Velcro. Here’s what he didn’t do: He didn’t sit down at an empty desk and think, “What this world needs is a better way of sticking stuff together! I’m going to be creative now!”

Trying to be creative is just deadly. It works about as well as trying to be charming. What we actually do in the Workshop is top secret. After taking part, workshop alumnae are requested to respect “omertà” the Mafia code of silence. It’s about surprise, so it must be one. Penicillin, Viagra, Post-it notes. All happy accidents. Mistakes. But how can you make mistakes on purpose? In the workshop, that’s exactly what we do. In NOT about just accepting ones mistakes- We really make them on purpose.

This workshop has been taught to writers, filmmakers, musicians, market researchers, salespeople, real estate agents, investment bankers, webmasters, Swedish royalty, and moms. Every discipline imaginable. Anybody can do it. It is not just for designers, inventors, and people like that. In Canada, a herd of elk showed up.

In every job, one wants to move forward, be creative. We all want to make good stuff. But when you try real, real hard and focus on being “good” this creates stress. Patterns are repeated. We know how to get good results. We get the same ones all the time! Computers. We all use them. And computers don’t make mistakes.

Too bad, because mistakes are where newness and freshness comes from. Out of the blue.

In the Workshop, we get out of our own way- there’s no problem-solving, no critique, and so no way to fail.

What is the "take home? What do people get out of this?"
I guarantee you will surprise me, yourself, and everybody else. Also, it's just plain fun.

People invent new things, and have unexpected ideas. That is what it’s for.
Think of it as tuna surprise, but without the tuna.

DETAILS:

any number of participants can take part. if they can hear/see me,
and have space to draw, it works. it's only doing. showing, not telling.
i tailor the workshop to suit people and their varied backgrounds.
let me know what information you need, and i will supply it.

NOTE -PLEASE DO NOT SHOW FUTURE PARTICIPANTS ANY OUTLINE. IT IS VITAL THAT NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE WORKSHOP BEFOREHAND.

i have held the 'mistakes' workshop for the following companies, all of whom are actively involved in the development of branding and marketing, media and education.

starbucks
http://www.starbucks.com
google
http://www.google.com/about/company/
IKEA
http://www.ikea.com
SEED
http://seedmagazine.com
brandtrust
http://brandtrust.com
3rd ward
http://www.3rdward.com
meredith corporation
http://www.meredith.com
burns group
http://www.burnsgroupnyc.com
72andsunny
http://www.72andsunny.com
artek (finland)
http://www.artek.fi
WHITE arkitekter
http://www.white.se
stockholm design lab
http://www.stockholmdesignlab.se
banff centre
http://www.banffcentre.ca

among many others.

a few conferences i have spoken at include:
cusp conference
https://www.cuspconference.com
AIGA
http://www.aiga.org
IDSA
http://www.idsa.org
psfk
http://www.psfk.com
J&J GSDO Speaker Series
http://www.jnj.com
gel
http://gelconference.com
the spikes
http://www.spikes.asiav
kolla!
http://kolla.se/2012

Bring Chaos to your Order.