11 quotes on creativity from inspiring women

This list of 11 quotes on creativity from women is here to inspire! Creativity is such an important part of our lives, yet it can be difficult to continuously keep in touch with our own imaginations and new ideas. Even if you don’t work in a creative field, creativity is a valuable trait to foster throughout your life.

Women have made enormously influential contributions to the creative fields of art, fashion, and design throughout the years, and there is a lot to learn from these successful trailblazers. Here are quotes from eleven of those powerful creative women along with illustrations from 1stDibs. These women were in touch with inventiveness and originality, and their advice can help inspire and guide you when tapping into your own creativity.

1. Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid is a powerful name in the world of innovative living spaces. A pioneering British-Iraqi architect, Hadid designed curvy and geometric buildings that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

The Guangzhou Opera House in China is one of her most famous buildings, but she has many others all over the globe. With a creative tenacity, Hadid was also a fierce advocate for other women in the male-dominated field of architecture.

Women are always told, ‘You’re not going to make it.’ They need confidence in themselves and people around them to help them to get on. – Zaha Hadid

2. Florence Knoll has a great quote on creativity

Florence Knoll was a furniture designer who helped transform the aesthetic of office spaces all over the country. Alongside her husband, she helped bring the iconic design firm Knoll into the spotlight.

They created sleek and modern furniture that was imbued with elegant simplicity. Today, Knoll still manufactures many of their original designs, such as the recognizable Womb Chair.

3. Diane von Furstenberg

Diane von Furstenberg is a fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is best known for creating the popular wrap dress, which she intended to be both empowering and form-fitting for women of all body types.

Her designs play with fun pops of color and bold prints. She is also a huge proponent of uplifting other female entrepreneurs.

I don’t like to talk about my dreams. I like to make them happen. I prefer to talk about them when they’re done. – Diane von Furstenberg

4. Maya Lin

Maya Lin is a Chinese-American artist who famously designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial after winning a design competition while she was a college student at Yale. Her minimal and impactful design was markedly unique from the grandeur of traditional memorials. I

n the following years, she has continued to create both memorials and sculptures that are inspired by our relationship with nature. Her quote is about looking at new viewpoints.

5. The quotes on creativity continue! Elsa Peretti

Elsa Peretti was an influential Italian jewelry designer. She took inspiration from a variety of natural shapes, such as beans and stones, to create beautiful and timeless pieces of jewelry.

Some of her most famous works include the Diamonds by the Yard necklace and the Bone Cuff bracelet, sported by various celebrities and displayed in multiple museums around the world. Her quote is about being rebellious.

Anyone who was a rebel at one time in life cannot return to being conventional. – Elsa Peretti

6. Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is a unique American photographer whose most famous work is a series of black-and-white portraits known as “Untitled Film Stills.” In this series and in many of her other works, she photographs herself dressed as a multitude of different personalities.

She does this to comment on stereotypes about women and film roles, which has inspired and influenced many others in the field of photography. Her quote really got me thinking…

If I knew what the picture was going to be like, I wouldn’t make it… The challenge is more about trying to make what you can’t think of – Cindy Sherman

7. Eileen Gray

Because she didn’t often promote herself and the spotlight often focused more on her male peers, Eileen Gray went quite underappreciated and relatively unknown for years. However, in more recent times she has begun to gain recognition as a hugely important modern designer and architect.

Influenced by Art Deco and modernism, her lacquered furniture created a big splash in the design scene. Her quote on creativity is about questioning things rather than accepting all that is around us.

Related reading: Find out how another amazing woman named Nicole Wakley combined style with sustainability to grow a successful business.

8. Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler was a painter who was a part of the Abstract Expressionist movement. She is famous for following her instincts and improvising her paintings, following interesting threads of emotion.

She experimented with various painting techniques before landing on her innovative color-stain method. This technique involves watering down paint and pouring it onto canvas to create beautiful washes of color that remind one of landscapes and mountains.

The only rule is that there are no rules. Anything is possible. It’s all about risks, deliberate risks. – Helen Frankenthaler

9. More quotes on creativity: Rei Kawakubo

Rei Kawakubo is an impactful name in the world of avant-garde fashion. A Japanese designer, Kawakubo creates powerfully innovative designs that completely reinvent the human silhouette and create thought-provoking shapes around the human figure.

She created the fashion label Comme des Garcons. Rei is regarded as one of the most original fashion designs working today.

10. Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo is one of the world’s most famous artists for good reason. A Mexican painter, she created intensely personal and intimate images and portraits throughout her life.

Suffering from great pain due to a myriad of health issues, Kahlo channeled her pain to express herself through art. Her artwork continues to speak to and relate with people all over the world to this day.

I don’t paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality. – Frida Kahlo

11. Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett is a graphic artist and sculptor who seeks to portray the black female experience. Motivated by racial and class injustice, she creates images to inspire change.

Her work often showcases the working class and black women shown in a dignified, empowered manner. Her quote is an important one about being the change.

Quotes on creativity: Takeaway on amazing words and women

All these women took sparks of creative passion and turned them into something uniquely theirs. They translated their interests and inspirations into perseverance and self-expression, leading to hugely successful careers and long-lasting legacies.

Use their words of wisdom to inspire your creative journey, whether it’s a grueling Monday, relaxing Sunday, or any other day of the week. Let the quotes above guide you toward your own ambitions.