Process

Artist <n>Alexander Calder</n> in his studio in Saché, France, 1964. Photo by <n>Ugo Mulas</n>.

Architect <n>Tadao Ando</n> in his <n>Studio Osaka</n>, designed in 1991.

<n>Barbara Hepworth</n> carving her sculpture <n>Pelagos</n> in 1946. Photo by <n>Studio St. Ives</n>.

<n>Le Corbusier</n>'s glasses on his drawing table, 1955. Photo by <n>René Burri</n>.

Designer <n>Dieter Rams</n> uses a <n>Tippa S typewriter</n> in a still from the 2018 documentary <n>Rams</n>.

<n>Mexican braceros</n> making tortillas in a labor camp mess hall, ca. 1955. Photo by <n>Leonard Nadel</n>.

Screenwriter <n>Dalton Trumbo</n>, photographed by his daughter <n>Mitzi Trumbo</n>.

<n>Studio / Bunkhouse</n> by <n>Cutler Anderson Architects</n> in Washington.

<n>Ernest Hemingway</n> at his standing desk, 1954. Photo from the <n>John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum</n>.

Author <n>Ernest Hemingway</n> photographed by <n>Kurt Hutton</n> in 1944.

Artist <n>Ruth Asawa</n> at Black Mountain College, c. 1948. Photo by <n>Josef Albers</n>.

The <n>Eames Office</n>, designed by <n>Charles and Ray Eames</n> in Venice, California, 1958.

Clay model of the <n>Mercedes-Benz W124</n>, designed under the direction of <n>Bruno Sacco</n>, 1984.

Artist <n>Wolfgang Laib</n> installing his work, <n>Pollen from Hazelnut</n>.

Artist <n>Helen Frankenthaler</n> at work, from the 1978 documentary <n>Frankenthaler: Toward a New Climate</n>.

The creative part of design isn't what you think it is

What we commonly consider the creative part of our work, is actually just the rendering of all the decisions, and inputs we've gotten while we were learning about what we needed to do.

Desk accessories designed by <n>Parasol</n> for <n>Hem</n>, 2017. Photo by <n>Julien Renault</n>.

Interior with a <n>PH 5</n> lamp by <n>Poul Henningsen</n> and furniture by <n>Hans J. Wegner</n>.

Architect <n>Tom Kay</n> at Foster Associates in London, 1970s.

<n>Al Gore</n> in his Nashville home office, 2007. Photo by <n>Julie Blackmon</n>.

Workers create a large <n>porcelain vat</n> in <n>Jingdezhen</n>, China, 2017. Photo by <n>Kevin Frayer</n>.

Artist <n>Helen Frankenthaler</n> in Long Island, NY, 1969. Photo by <n>Ernst Haas</n>.

Architect <n>Peter Zumthor</n> in his home and studio, <n>Casa Z</n>, in Haldenstein. Photo by <n>Hélène Binet</n>.

Sculptor <n>Barbara Hepworth</n> at work in her St Ives studio. Still from the 1961 film by <n>John Read</n>.

The <n>Phenomenon</n> tile collection, designed by <n>Tokujin Yoshioka</n> for <n>Mutina</n>.

Artist <n>Lee Krasner</n> in her studio, 1962, with her painting <n>Prophecy</n> (1956). Photo by <n>Hans Namuth</n>.

The artist studio of <n>Silja Duboux Erlang</n>.

Sculptor <n>Isamu Noguchi</n> in his New York studio, 1944. Photo by <n>Eliot Elisofon</n>.

Writer <n>André Malraux</n> with images for his book <n>Le Musée imaginaire</n> in 1950. Photo by <n>Maurice Jarnoux</n>.

Artist <n>Ulrike Theusner</n> in her studio. Photo by <n>Marlen Mueller</n>.

Sculptor <n>Isamu Noguchi</n> in his Greenwich Village studio, 1947.

Artist <n>Enzo Cini</n> in his Tuscany studio. Photo by <n>Massimo Listri</n> for <n>The World of Interiors</n>.

Artist <n>Ruth Asawa</n> in her San Francisco studio, photographed by <n>Imogen Cunningham</n> in 1957.

Artist <n>Robert Motherwell</n> works on his painting <n>Reconciliation Elegy</n> in 1978. Photo by <n>Renate Ponsold</n>.