Astrid Heimer

The creative space - interplay between intuition and intention. Demonstration of aesthetics and craft-based processes

In the presentation, The Creative Space - interplay between intuition and intention. Demonstration of aesthetic- and craft-based processes, a revitalized set of definitions and concepts on aesthetics and how aesthetics can be used as analytical tools for creative processes and their outcome are proposed. Aesthetics is grounded on Baumgarten’s definition as ‘science based on the senses’[1], involving and activating the multisensory body in the making of creative output. Clay is used as both mood and media. The examples demonstrate aesthetics as a core competence, including both abstract and concrete experience-based theories. In my work as ceramic artist, I use elements and principles from formal aesthetics to describe the forms I make and experience. I perceive a form’s proportions, structure, directions, and movements because I am familiar with theoretical principles and have acquired the skills through craft, to handle forms creatively with confidence. Thus, my aesthetic form knowledge is both embodied and theoretical. From this point of view aesthetic competence, and craft as material-based processes foster creativity.

Linking the topic to IP law, there is a tendency to look at aesthetics as synonymous with subjective expressions for and experiences of beauty. For example, the European Court of Justice has stated that “the aesthetic effect that may be produced by a design is the product of an intrinsically subjective sensation of beauty experienced by each individual who may look at that design. Consequently, that subjective effect does not, in itself, permit a subject matter to be characterized as existing and identifiable with sufficient precision and objectivity”, which according to the Court is a prerequisite for considering a design or other subject matters as a copyright work.[2] This is, however, a narrow conception of ‘aesthetics’. With a broader perspective, including formal aesthetics, aesthetic disciplines may guide the assessment of whether free and creative choices reflecting the author’s personality have been made, which according to the Court is the core of the originality criterion in copyright law. The statement of the Advocate General in the Mio/konektra case that “it is more prudent to stick to the words ‘free and creative choices reflecting the personality of the author’ than to use the word aesthetics,[3] ignores the fact that aesthetic principles – in a broad sense – may provide useful guidance as to whether free and creative choices have been made. I will demonstrate the relevance in the following.

Theresa J. Hardman's four principles for creative intuition[4] is used in this presentation to expand comprehension for creativity as competence, and how certain fields of aesthetics can play a role for how free and creative choices can be assessed. Hardman’s four principles for creative intuition are: 1) a state of expanded consciousness, 2) An open, fluid way of being, 3) focuses on the particular, rather than the general, and 4) an act of fusion or identification which occurs through emotion or empathy. Hardman emphasizes that the four principles overlap and must be seen together. The examples demonstrate that creative intuition also involves interplay between intuition and intention.

A state of expanded consciousness, Harmans first principle for creativity and intuition is here exemplified by practice-based theories on knowledge, defined as: know-that, know-how, and confident knowledge[5]. According to Bertil Rolf, the connection between propositional knowledge and experienced knowledge is ‘intimate’, and theoretical and knowledge often have a ‘common ground’[6]. Principles for managing communication of experienced knowledge are further described under Harman’s principle 3. Two other examples of a state of expanded consciousness are the concept for aesthetic awareness, a multi-perceptual concept on aesthetics. For art and craft, it is defined as an open attitude and sensitivity to interaction between the form and body through the material’[7]. It can also be descriptive for interrelation aspects between form, body and space. Aesthetic awareness as experiences, is by Dorte Jørgnsen defined as ‘a special form of cognition carried by emotions, sensations and hunches’[8].

For the second principle, an open, fluid way of being concepts from phenomenology and material engagement[9] are proposed. From phenomenology reduction is specifically emphasized, described as a strategy for changing fixed settings such as habits, thoughts, and actions. To free yourself from your prior knowledge and face what you experience completely openly[10]. Theory about material engagement, coined by Latour Malafouris involves concepts for material-agency, defined as, ‘agency is a property or possession neither of humans nor non-humans. Agency is the relational and emergent product of material-engagement’[11]. By this approach the position of the material is central, and that the creative, materialized processes have an affect on the creative actions, and an effect on the outcome.

In creative processes there is most likely an interplay between intuition and intention. Intuition is by Gilles Deleuze described as a method of precision that follows a set of strict rules[12]. Focuses on the particular, rather than the general, as the third principle from Hardman, can be seen as an intentional part to create a creative space for intuitive actions. Principles of form in formal aesthetics[13] is an example of a set of rules for creativity. The principles work as visual grammar in form language, and formal aesthetics as visual analytical tools bridge abstraction with concrete experiences and competence. Formal aesthetics are based on geometry and research in gestalt theory and are thereby used as objectivization of aesthetics.

The fourth principle, an act of fusion or identification which occurs through emotion or empathy enables an expansion of the creative space. It requires a state of non-dualityBeing reciprocal describes experience as ‘a two-way process, in which the individual opens him- or herself to receive a fluid and interpenetrating reality, while simultaneously extending his or her consciousness in an ever-expanding outward direction’[14].

This presentation will be continued by further research to detect and develop merging points between art, design and IP-law, with creativity, aesthetics and craft as a pivot.

[1] Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, ‘Fra Aesthetica (1750)’ (2008). Estetisk teori: en antologi [Aesthetic theory: an Anthology] Oslo, Universitetsforlaget 11-17

[2] Case C-683/17, Cofemel — Sociedade de Vestuário SA v G-Star Raw CV, judgment of 12. September 2019, EU:C:2019:721, para. 53.

[3] Joined case C-580/23 and 795/23, Mio AB, Mio e-handel AB, Mio Försäljning AB vGalleri Mikael & Thomas Asplund Aktiebolag and konektra GmbH, LN v USM U. Schärer Söhne AG, Opinion of Advocate General Szpunar of 8 May 2025, EU:C:2025:330, para. 43.

[4] Theresa J. Hardman, ‘Understanding creative intuition’ (2021) 31(11) Journal of creativity. Elsevier Ltd https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yjoc.2021.100006

[5] Astrid Heimer, Heimer, ‘The role of aesthetics in design education: Leverage of creativity through concrete and abstract form exploration’ (2023), 30(1) Techne series (Oslo) 32. See also, Peter Jarvis, The Practitioner-Researcher; Developing Theory from Practice (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999).

[6] Bertil Rolf (2017), in Astrid Heimer, Heimer, ‘The role of aesthetics in design education: Leverage of creativity through concrete and abstract form exploration’ (2023), 30(1) Techne series (Oslo) 32.

[7] Astrid Heimer, ‘AestPra – a Meta-methodology for Art and Craft’ (2022) 11(1) Nordic Journal of Art and Research 6.

[8] Dorte Jørgensen, ‘Hvad er æstetik?’ [What is aesthetics?] (2018). Æstetik og pedagogik. Akademisk forlag.

[9] Lambros Malafouris, How things shape the mind: a theory of material engagement (Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press, 2013)

[10] Ulla Thøgersen, Kropp og Fænomenologi, en introduktion til Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s filosofi [Body and Phenomenology, an introduction to the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty] (Århus Systime Academic, Gyldendal akademisk, 2004) 94. See also, Timothy Mooney, Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of perception: on the body informed (Cambridge University Press, 2023) https://doiorg.ezproxy.oslomet.no/10.1017/9781009223416

[11] Lambros Malafouris, How things shape the mind: a theory of material engagement (Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press, 2013) 148.

[12] Gilles Deleuze, in Theresa J. Hardman, ‘Understanding creative intuition’ (2021) 31(11) Journal of creativity. Elsevier Ltd https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yjoc.2021.100006 2.

[13] Cheryl Akner-Koler, Form & Formlessness: Questioning aesthetic abstractions through art projects, cross-disciplinary studies and product design education, (Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg 2007)

[14] Theresa J. Hardman, ‘Understanding creative intuition’ (2021) 31(11) Journal of creativity. Elsevier Ltd https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yjoc.2021.100006 5.