How ordinary transforms into iconic

The Eiffel Tower draws a crowd, but wasn’t built by following the crowd. It was a decision to think differently, to solve a problem in a way no one else had dared at the time.

When Gustave Eiffel took on the challenge of building a tower for the 1889 World’s Fair held in Paris, people said it was too tall, too costly and too impractical.

But Eiffel saw it differently. Instead of letting the constraints limit him, he used them to fuel his creativity. What wasn’t available, he developed or modified to work for him.

The design was one of the first structures to be created with wind resistance in mind, he used prefabrication on a scale never done before with over 18,000 components manufactured off site and assembled on location and the weatherproof coating and maintenance routines to prevent rust were unique at the time.

The art of solving problems isn’t about finding the easiest path, it’s about choosing the one that maximises the result you can achieve by unlimiting your thinking.

The bigger the problem, the greater the opportunity to let imagination fuel innovation.

When you face a new challenge, don’t just ask, “How can I fix this quickly and simply?” Ask, “How can I use this to do something that’s way better?” See which answer you prefer. That’s how you transform ordinary into iconic.