The creative - out of the box

Lecture by Tomas De Bruyne

Main stage speaker at the EWPC 2023 conference

Tomas De Bruyne is without a doubt one of today's most talented floral event designers, specialized in architectural and conceptual floral space design. He is a celebrated international floral artist who has the skill, knowledge and talent to create breathtaking large scale floral art installations for a wide variety of celebrations.

From royal weddings to big fat Indian weddings, to grand public and corporate events. Every celebration sparks Tomas’s creativity and craftsmanship. He creates unique floral art that leaves a strong imprint in your mind and brings your celebration to the next level. Tomas De Bruyne creates unique memories tailored to your values, making him the preferred floral space designer for every event.

During the month of March 2023, Tomas De Bruyne, lead instructor and creator of the EMC educational program for floral designers all over the world, has been invited to lecture at The Exotic Wedding Planning Conference, hosted by Al Hamra International Exhibition And Conference Center in Ras Al Khaimah, UEA. EWPC, is one of the biggest series of wedding planning conference conceptualised to promote learning, networking and business opportunities in the global wedding planning industry. This platform hosts versatile stakeholders of the wedding planning industry including global experts, leading wedding planners specialising in destination weddings, premium event planners and suppliers. The focus of the conference is to engage the public and the speakers into a learning experience and to enhance the scope and experience of the weddings and event space. This conference also facilitates an open marketplace to showcase exquisite and unique solutions from around the world that the wedding planners can explore.

It was held over 3 days, from March 1st to the 3rd in Ras Al Khaimah, U.A.E, hosted by the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, with the Al Hamra International Exhibition & Convention Center and the Intercontinental Resort and Spa, serving as the primary locations for the conference and APEX Awards respectively. The event served as a testimonial to all the inspiring ideas and rich values that the wedding industry represents. The Exotic Wedding Planning Conference is the benchmark for the global luxury weddings and events industry. The discussions and immersive experiences have been crafted for leaders and influencers at their zenith. Planning, for all professionals is focused on passion and the art or business, while for clients, it is always about emotion, culture, traditions and sentiments coming together as an art form. 

Tomas De Bruyne focused on the topic of "creative thinking" 

extracts from the lecture at EWPC 2023 

"Sometimes, something that sounds so easy is actually very difficult to do. 

Thinking outside the box certainly fits that description. We’re all striving to be unique and enhance our creativity, but are we willing to take the risk in order to achieve that? We all know when we stay in our box we feel safe, no failure is possible as we have the knowledge that ensures that, a knowledge gained through our experience. 

Thinking out of the box is an attitude! 

Thinking out of the box demands a certain mind-set that attracts the right creative elements, combinations, seeing possibilities where others don’t see it. Having a sharp eye for opportunities to allow innovative ideas to flow is key. The trick and magic to think outside the box is to start thinking from inside the box. I don’t know about you, but my best creative moments came about when I faced the most limitations. 

Working through ways of perceiving patterns from a different perspective, looking at elements from other fields and creatively bridging them to build up unique events, asking yourself the right questions in order to reach the desired responses and connecting all the dots to see potential where no one else does are some of the aspects that the lecture aims to clarify for you. Out of the box thinking is atypical thinking. You have to force yourself consciously to go beyond what you know and this lecture offers a perfect opportunity to do just that. Consciously engage in learning how to design your way out of the box to provoke unique ideas to come to life! The more you can break the known rules or even stretch the laws, the more creative and innovative you are.   

Our clients are giving us a box, that’s why it is so important to listen to our clients, as they are part of our innovative ideas, coming from an idea generated out of your box. Innovation is all about transfer, meaning importing ideas and concepts form one sector to your own sector. Once you master that, you change the game.  

We are living in perhaps the most exciting time to be creative. The level of technology that is available to inspire us has never been so big.  But … we all have self doubt.  I can say if there are 100 people in a room, all 100 people have some level of insecurity, self doubt. Now, you can not have self doubt about your conviction and commitment to do this, willing to put yourself into the world of opportunities of creative thinking, but you can have doubts about your ability to succeed or coming up with an innovative idea. Even before you start with the process you already think about the outcome and how it can fail. 

We reach out for thinking out of the box;  if we are struggling for innovative and fresh creative ideas. If we want a gain or need the pain to go beyond our creative limitations. Meaning, if the client is pushing us to come up with something never seen, right? 

Thinking out of the box demands a certain mindset.  

This mindset attracts the right creative elements, combinations, seeing possibilities where others don’t see it.  Having a sharp eye for opportunities to allow innovative ideas to flow in.  This is somebody who is not wasteful spending time on creative thinking but wistfully , thoughtfully spending time and energy on a creative process.   

The trick and magic to think outside the box is to start thinking from inside the box. You need to have an everything-is-possible mindset. If you stay in your comfort zone, there is where you fail.   

Did everybody ask a 5 year old child to think about the box? Not really, right? Children have no limitations, no fears of failure, no boundaries and their imagination is as real as surreal.   

Success is not a comfortable procedure. 

Meaning you have to become comfortable with the uncomfortable. Our brain is not designed to be successful, it is made to keep us safe! Meaning, thinking out of the box is atypical thinking.  When coming up with an idea, knowing there is a factor challenge, or even failure, to overcome will make you approach the idea with a doze of stress that might be just the right amount to ensure your creative mind will start working.  

My drive as a designer has two characteristics: to challenge myself in combination of curiosity! It feeds my passion to come up with creative ideas, and my best tool is thinking out of the box by seeing our belief in patterns in a different way. A pattern is a model, a design, an example, a motif or a decoration, especially the ones which are formed from regular repeated elements.  A naturally occurring or random arrangement of shapes, colours, etc which have a regular or decorative effect defines a pattern. 

Creativity is seeing patterns and finally came up with your own. Every pattern follows a special rule: the rules are how the pattern work, so if you figured out the rule, you have cracked the patterns code. Kind of breaking the rules or stretching the laws and coming up with your own.

You must un-master your mastery by looking for its boundaries. It is vital to be curious.  Be able to look around every corner to find opportunities. You put yourself open and in a position to learn or to discover. A box has four walls and a ground and we'll dive into these 5 elements by asking a few questions to challenge your mind. 

The ground stands for the law of nature. The elements and principles of design. The unchangeable rules of nature as is, for example, gravity. In order to dare manipulate these laws we have to fully understand them. 

The first wall is the one of knowledge. How strong do you cling to this wall? 

The second wall is the one of belief. What is possible and not possible! How strong are your beliefs? 

The third wall is the one of emotion. How much am I involved? We all know emotions manipulate our thinking process. They filter what the truth is. Our perceptions are driven from our beliefs, actions and emotions. 

The final and fourth wall is the one of society.  It’s more what people think about you? Do you dare to face failures? It’s not your first concern what the people will think about you. 

In short, make those walls transparent as they would have no effect on your creative thinking process. If you do so, you’ll start to think more freely, more like a child or even a novice with no limitations, fear of failure or obstacles entering a world of surreal possibilities. A good sign telling you are stagnating as a designer is when you find out you are working on an automatic pilot, well it’s time to search for the box and reinvent yourself. 

If you want to create something outside the known creative system you have to find a solution from outside the system because anything within the system is already a part of the system.

Dare to break the common event industry patterns. Create your own pattern and over-exceed the expectations of your client! 

I heard once … that there is a lot of potential in you, locked into your genetic code. And if you put yourself into a new situation , the stress that is produced from that situation unlocks those genes and builds new parts of you! So, that is very cool, who knows how much there is locked inside of you which finally opens your world of creative opportunities.

Tomas is a unique, dynamic speaker able to engage the whole world, sweep any audience on any podium, with an overwhelming passion, on the spot applicable knowledge, pleading for the beauty of nature and organic life. Unique indeed because such deep sense of purpose and passion are fed by authentic, personal, human values, believes and professional skills built over 20 years of experience as a floral designer, mentor, speaker for congresses, museums, various groups and schools, from different industries, all over the planet.