Creativity from without... What is without?

How do you create something out of nothing?  Painters had oil, tempura, gouache and much more as media.  Sculptors had marble and other hard substances to create a life-like body or animal.  So how can modern designers find a way to make something visually pleasing to the human eye with none of those products?  As mind blowing as the concept is, I think designers have the ability to do what seems to be impossible.  It really seems to come with the job as it is.

As the saying goes: "One man's junk can be another man's treasure."  What may mean nothing to someone else may be the source of inspiration or direct use from a designer.

Credit to Mr. James Corbett... the amazing artist that created this and much more.

Now although this is a form of art through use of unusual objects, this also provides a visual of what is possible with something that seems absolutely useless: something that is useless in society is nonexistent, therefore it becomes nothing.  But once someone has found a use for something useless, it becomes something again.

What I think I'm trying to say is that lots of things, if disregarded, are considered useless and/or nothing.  But once they are given a form of usefulness or an appealing visual, it is given a reason to exist again.

Credit to Teracycle for making such cool backpacks!

A lot of thought processes must have gone through in order for these products to be made out of materials most consider to be trash.  There was probably a fair amount of designing going on to find the most efficient way to create such useful things.

Overall, "without" or "nothing" is just a phase for some things.  Some end up being nothing and will continue to be nothing for thousands of years to come.  But some are a little more fortunate in becoming something useful to humans in some form or another.  Designers may use materials to create and/or design, but nothing should definitely be another contender as another form of media.