This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit Cornwall for the second time. I was thrilled, knowing I would be there, to get back to what has been called “the eighth wonder of the world” – the Eden Project. Each time I go, I feel like a kid again; each time I learn something more about our planet.
The Eden Project is an environmental tourist attraction delighting and educating thousands of visitors every year. Two major biomes – one of which houses the largest indoor rainforest in the world – nurture plants brought here from all over the world. Kids and grownups alike have fun while learning exactly how we are connected to the earth.
The Eden Project is the result of one man’s creative vision and those who joined him in his creative process. More than 12 years ago, Tim Smit had an idea to reclaim a gaping hole in the Earth (an old china clay pit) and build on its depleted surface a visitor attraction that would educate and entertain thousands of visitors about the earth. It took 2 ½ years for the team, led by architect Nicholas Grimshaw and engineering firm Anthony Hunt and Associates, to construct the project. It will celebrate its 10th anniversary on 17 March of this year.
All it takes to change the world is one person with a vision and the commitment to see it through. Creativity is nothing if not this, big ideas sprouting and growing from nothing in small corners all over the world. As I have been fortunate to travel a fair amount in recent years, I have seen dozens of these corners; and they never cease to inspire me.
Every corner of the world has someone like Tim Smit in it with an idea waiting to be born. So I have decided to share the best of these with you here – postcards from the creative process – in hopes they will inspire you too. What is your corner waiting for from you?
