“Color, creativity and sophistication” are the three words used by contemporary artist Dan Bleier to describe his “core values as an artist.”

From his Chelsea studio in Manhattan, Bleier has produced colorful and innovative art, sculptures and furniture made from resins and glass tiles for over 30 years. His projects have been showcased by leading architects and global designers, including Chanel and Dior. His art has been exhibited in top galleries around the country. And a commissioned sculpture by Bleier serves as the centerpiece at the corporate headquarters at General Mills in Minneapolis, MN.

Bleier admits that he was generally not a good math student in his youth, but that he did excel in geometry. “I would often get lost in the colors and shapes of the room I was in or the architecture around me,” according to Bleier.

Bleier’s success as an artist and designer is derived from his constantly seeking to find shapes and colors that have a “quality and sense of purpose lacking in much contemporary art today.” Bleier explains, “In the process of drawing I find shapes and patterns that I have never seen or imagined before.”

I met recently with Bleier in his studio. I was indeed struck by the intense colors, the rich patina of his glass tiles, and his inventive use of resins. Bleier’s work clearly evokes a 60s modernism feel – with designs as fresh and edgy today as they would’ve been 45 years ago. And I very much liked the artist himself, who had a great smile and energy that serves to further enhance the impact of his work.

A successful artist or designer takes ingredients and materials that are available to everyone, but is able to combine and present them in a way that creates a unique experience and a lasting impression.

Take a fresh approach to a product or service offering within your own company. Foster and celebrate those employees who find ways to inject color and creativity into their work. Focus less on an employee’s weaknesses (e.g., in math), and more on his or her strengths (e.g., in geometry).

I’m certain you’ll like the results and the impact it will make on your customers and your bottom line.

Do you have a creative place? It’s the place where you feel you are at your most creative and productive. It may be a bench in your favorite park, a special nook or room in your house or spot in your yard, a quiet desk at a library, a small bistro table in a busy Starbucks, or a spot at work where no one can interrupt you.

Frankly, your creative place may not be a physical location. It could be a particular state of mind. It could be a certain mood, time of day, or the type of music that you are listening to at the time. It could be something you do such as driving or walking. Or it could be any combination of the above.

Every employee has at least one place that focuses the mind and puts them in a more inspired state. Not a state that will necessarily lead to a nuclear fusion breakthrough, or the next generation of computer chip. But it could be a state that helps them think through a more creative presentation, design a more environmentally-friendly container, improve the profitability of a company service offering, or find a more efficient way to process expense reports.

A company’s challenge is to help find those places for employees where they can be more innovative. Most companies insist that employees produce results in sterile environments under rigid conditions. Ask yourself this question: if you were using your own money to fund a composer to come up with a great score for your next blockbuster movie, would you insist that he or she do it between 9 to 5 on a Tuesday in the small conference room down the hall? I don’t think so.

I realize that organizations may not have the flexibility or the resources to put their employees into their most creative physical spaces. But with a little bit of ingenuity, leadership, and guts to try something different, they could clearly get employees to a better place or frame of mind.

Let New Lantern help your company find its creative place. It could be the beginning of a more beautiful and productive relationship between you and your employees.

Fumiko Toda

Growing up in rural Japan, Fumiko Toda spent many summer days visiting a nearby pond to study the insects, leaves, and stones that lined its banks. She later went on to attend the Kyoto University of Art and Design, and after graduation Fumiko moved to New York City in 2001 to continue to pursue her passion as an artist.

From 2001 to 2007, Fumiko studied art at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan. The Academy (now known as the National Academy Museum & School of Fine Arts) was founded in 1825 to promote American art through exhibitions and education. Today, it houses one of the largest public collections of 19th and 20th century American art in the United States.

Since coming to America, Fumiko, 28, has won numerous awards and grants for her work, which has been showcased in more than two dozen exhibitions in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Minnesota, Japan and Thailand. She admits that she is “obsessively fascinated with color, texture, textile design, and form, although most of the images and inspiration I find for art, are drawn from my childhood background.”

The Safe-T-Gallery in Brooklyn will be the site of Fumiko’s first major solo exhibition in New York, which will be open to the public from April 23 to May 30. Her show is aptly named “Recent Insects.”

What can a company and its employees learn from a young and promising artist? Success is not a static destination; it requires continuous, thought-provoking training and rigorous practice of one’s craft. Find what inspires you and leverage that inspiration in your work. And, if you’re seeking to create “buzz” with your next product or service, you might try looking at obvious things in a new and less obvious way.

Last month, Christie’s held the “Sale of the Century” auction in Paris of the art and furniture owned by world-renowned fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, who died in June 2008 at the age of 71. Christie’s spent $1.2 million to host the auction at the famed Grand Palais near the Champs-Elysees, which drew over 30,000 visitors to the preview exhibition. The auction itself spread over three days and raised a record-breaking $484 million — even in the face of the global economic crisis. Saint Laurent’s lifelong partner, Pierre Berge, said that most of the profits from the auction would be donated to HIV/AIDS research.

The overwhelming interest in last month’s auction underscores the impact of Saint Laurent in the art and design world over the last five decades. Born in Algeria in 1936, Saint Laurent maintained a home in Morocco. At his request, Saint Laurent’s ashes were scattered near his Marrakech villa in the Majorelle botantical garden, which he frequently visited to find influence. His influence also came from the streets of major international cities. For example, he was known for “bringing the Parisian beatnik style to couture runways and adapting peacoats he found in Army-Navy stores in New York” into fashionable women’s jackets, according to the New York Times.

Corporate executives and managers could learn from the man who built the House of YSL. To succeed in business, you must change as rapidly as the markets and interests of customers change. Today’s haute couture can be tomorrow’s bargain-bin special. Same goes with your products and services, and how you do business.

Seek inspiration in both likely and unlikely places. Embrace the principle that the look and feel of a product is as important as its function. Leverage the latest Web 2.0 tools that your customers and clients are using. And those who are fortunate enough to have laurels, shouldn’t rest on them, not if your business is interested in being around tomorrow.

The New York Times (2/1/09) recently featured an article by Janet Rae-Dupree on ”disruptive innovation” and how America’s antiquated health care system is on the verge of a long overdue overhaul. The author cites an industry that is prepared to embrace innovations in the form of new business models and greater use of technology. According to the article, “disruptive innovation” is a term first used in 2003 by Harvard Business School professor, Clayton Christensen — calling it “an unexpected new offering that through price or quality improvements turns a market on its head.”

If ever there was an industry in need of turning on its head, it’s health care. But the health care industry is not alone. Most industries and businesses could use a fresh coat of disruptive innovation — now more than ever. We are witnessing a near unprecedented upheaval in the global economic markets, and businesses in every sector are under tremendous strain. Corporations should use this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reassess themselves from the inside out, and leverage this overall climate of disruption to seek out and embrace change and more innovative approaches.

Is our current organization and structure best-suited to take on and weather the current economic crisis? Should we re-examine our business models, methodologies, and approaches? Are there more efficient processes we can deploy to achieve our business goals? Are we fully leveraging the latest technologies? Are there changes needed to our product or service lines? Are we effectively leveraging the talent of our employee base? Are we effectively mitigating the anxiety that has engulfed our employees in this volatile economic period?

Corporate executives and managers should be asking themselves all of these questions — and more. Disruption across the globe already has us surrounded. Turn this disruptive climate into an innovative opportunity to put your organization on a stronger and healthier course for the near- and long-term.