About the author
Roy Sharples is the Founder, President and Chief Creative Officer of Unknown Origins on a mission to unlock everyones creative potential.
Manifesto
Manifesto
Situation
Creativity is the ability to make the invisible visible by taking what is not to create what is. It manifests what is inside you and around you by transcending the obvious, ordinary, and routine. Embracing originality and making unique connections between disparate universes past and present to light the way into the future in new ways. Having confidence in your ideas and never giving up on bringing them to fruition. Leading without frontiers by seeing around the corners and fearlessly navigating into the future.
This transformation infuses imagination, taste, style, and inherent messiness with inner desperation and persistence, along with a desire to succeed that results in having the skill and practical know-how. To be creative, you must swim courageously against the tide in search of the authentic and new while staving off false promises of easy gratification and immediate success in a world saturated with consumer-led celebrity culture, where everyone looks the same, and everything is for sale. Some of us must also transcend vermin-tongued conformists, separatist armchair analysts, and tiger parents—all of whom can crush imaginations, inner voices, and dreams. This is the reality in which we live, and it is counter-intuitive to nurturing creativity.
However, curiously, it is hardship, melancholy, and adversity that often inspire creativity. People who survive alienation, oppression, poverty, and other life challenges realize that it fuels their genius when they can focus on it. This primal desire to survive the odds with extraordinary intellectual ability, mental toughness, grit, and creative productivity is what fuels an insatiable drive for self-actualization. This, in turn, inspires creativity.
When you know how to channel your passion and energy into creativity and create meaningful outcomes, your outputs will be the next generation's inputs by lighting the way to the future and passing on the baton, leaving the world a better place. If you aspire to be as influential as the things that influence you—not to imitate them but to influence others in your own creative way— you can recreate the world.
The defining question is a stalemate: should you be acceptable to others or to yourself?
Manifesto
1
Knowing that ridicule is nothing to be scared of
If your efforts are met with ridicule, all you have to do is find your inner conviction that you are doing the right thing, navigating toward invisible horizons by anticipating future trends inspired by culture and aesthetics to drive sustained discovery, invention, and innovation. It's a sure sign that what you do is bold and innovative if you're dancing to your own drumbeat. Pay no mind to ridicule.
2
Never be "Another Brick in the Wall"
Dream, make, and do. Be in the moment. Push forward for the greater good with true grit. Conformity never leads to progress. If you have something authentically different to offer, you'll excite and inspire others and ultimately thrive by lighting the way to the future.
3
Lead without frontiers
Fearlessly lead by example and win the crowd by navigating territory where no one else has ventured. Avoid the mainstream and work to develop a deeper relationship between yourself and your audience. Be authentic, live in the moment with conviction and confidence, and always stay true to yourself.
4
Provoking actions that change minds
Reject conventions, constantly analyze, and question and challenge the status quo in your everyday life. Provide an alternative and bring it to life. People who achieve greatness do not fit a formula or follow a structure. They break the mold by following their own path.
5
Keeping true to the dreams of your youth and create outside the boundaries
Pablo Picasso believed all children are artists, but they lose their creativity when they grow up. Grow into, not out of, creativity. Don't give up the dreams of your childhood and your approach to the world through a child's eyes. Learn, innovate, and never waste a second on anything that seems to restrict you.
Purpose
Unknown Origins are on a mission to save the world from unoriginality by unleashing the power of creativity.
We are a creative design studio that provides creative strategy, brand creation, storytelling, and envisioning solutions for artists, businesses, educators, and entrepreneurs.
Applying the creative process to drive breakthrough impact by blending the art and science of aesthetics with excellence in craftsmanship, inspired by industry developments and culture, connecting emotions and imagination to create elegantly composed brand-positioned solutions.
Curator of the community-driven storytelling platform providing everyone access to insights and content from creators worldwide.
Roy Sharples
Creative leaders have confidence in their ideas, and never give up on bringing them to fruition. It means leading without frontiers by seeing around the corners and fearlessly navigating into the future.
Founder and CEO