Stone Soup

   I first heard the words “Stone Soup” in my Design 001 class and I really had no idea what it meant. Later when Professor Housefield told us that it was a children's book that was about three soldiers who made stone soup from different ingredients that the villagers had laying around. Then I thought to myself “What does this have to do with Design?”

            We weren’t going to be really making “Stone Soup” but instead we were going to use the concept of “Stone Soup” to create something out of materials that we would bring to class. We were not really told what to bring except that these materials had to be clean from traces of food and recycled material that we had lying around. My contribution to our “Stone Soup” was 2 small cardboard boxes, scissors, newspaper ads, and a marker.Once we had all the materials gathered we really didn’t know where to start.

            Our plan was to have a strong base and then keep adding to it to make something that to me looked like a tree with branches. This tree didn’t look like an ordinary tree instead it had interesting patterns and designs that made it look different from anything else I have seen. My experience with stone soup was interesting because I’m one of those people who plan everything out before they start creating something. For me to just jump right in and start making something that really wasn’t planned was a totally new experience. At first I felt like my creation would not fit into what was already started but I soon realized that nothing really fit in and that was the magic that made our creation special.

All pictures taken by Jennifer Arango.