This quote underlines the importance of understanding your resources before you can effectively create or design anything. In essence, it’s saying that to make a successful design—whether it’s an architectural structure, a piece of artwork, or even a business plan—you must first fully comprehend the materials or elements at your disposal.
Think about building a house. You need to understand the properties of wood, concrete, and steel; how they work together; their strengths and weaknesses; how they respond to different weather conditions etc., before you can create a functional and aesthetically pleasing structure. If you don’t understand your materials, your design could fail in both practicality and beauty.
Applying this concept beyond architecture or artistry, let’s consider business strategy for instance. Here ‘materials’ might be capital resources, human resources (skills & expertise), technology available etc. to formulate an effective strategy (design), one needs to thoroughly understand these ‘materials’ – their potential benefits and also limitations.
In terms of personal development too this idea holds significance. The ‘materials’ here could be our skills, experiences, strengths and weaknesses. For us to grow personally (or professionally), we must first deeply understand these aspects about ourselves – what we are good at? Where do we lack? What experiences have shaped us? Once we have this understanding only then can we effectively ‘design’ our self-improvement journey by leveraging our strengths while working on our shortcomings.
So whether applied in architecture or life in general – Mies van der Rohe’s quote emphasizes the foundational role that knowledge plays in any creative process: know your materials before you start designing with them!
