The age of diversification

Coming from rural roots, I know alot about business' diversifying, especially farmers. But the creative industries also seem to be at it. It's not a new phenomenon but why does it happen? Whether its an entrepreneurial act for financial survival or simply transferring existing skills and creating voluntary collaborations, everyone in the creative sector seams to be exploring other fields.

Take Rowan Moore, an architect with several buildings to his name, he has branched from exterior to interior design. His designs include the 2009 Oscars ceremony, the stage production of Legally Blonde and the interiors of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants. Moore claims its not about making shed loads of money, but instead the result of natural progression as a result of "staying curious" and open minded to opportunities creativity can produce.

Likewise in Advertising, agencies no longer wish to pigeon hole themselves into boxes, instead they choose to be more expressive and encourage communication through the medium which works best for the brand, not the agency. Spanning from music videos, magazines, installations and product design. Personally I think this is probably the best way to express creativity, after all don't clients and budgets restrict the brief enough already? It seams to be changing the shape of advertising just as it has through the history of Art, where many new movements happened due to accidental experimentation.

However, as conceptual thinkers this would suggest that creative people should be able to move into any creative area, but this doesn't mean you will succeed in all. Here's a classic example, take Celebrities Dancing On Ice, each celebrity already has a 'talent' of some sort in predominantly the entertainment industry but that doesn't mean they can all skate.

So, does this mean you should stick with what your best at? Of course not, but as long as we explore, experiment and stay open minded when answering a brief, you never know where it might lead, but almost certainly it will lead to somewhere new.