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The long path from material through function to creative work has only one goal: to create order out of the desperate confusion of our time.
Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the journey of transforming raw material into meaningful creative expression amidst chaos.

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe highlights the creative process as a progression from the raw material through its functionality to the final artistic work. This journey is aimed at establishing order and clarity in a world that often feels disordered and chaotic, reflecting the essential role of creativity in making sense of our surroundings.

Themes

CreativityChaosOrderArtistic ExpressionDesign

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech at an art exhibition discussing the importance of creativity in addressing societal issues.

More from Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

We should attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together in a higher unity.
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Architecture depends on facts, but its real field of activity lies in the realm of the significance.
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The demands of the time for objectivity and functionality must be fulfilled. If that clearly happens, then the buildings of our day will convey the greatness of which the age is capable, and only a fool will maintain that they lack it.
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I think that an industrial process is not like a rubber stamp. Everything has to be put together and, as such, should have its own expression.
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Reinforced concrete buildings are by nature skeletal buildings. No noodles nor armoured turrets. A construction of girders that carry the weight, and walls that carry no weight. That is to say, buildings consisting of skin and bones.
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Modern buildings of our time are so huge that one must group them. Often the space between these buildings is as important as the buildings themselves.
Ludwig Mies Van Der RoheRead

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