My Day With Frank Lloyd Wright

I recently spent the day with Frank Lloyd Wright.

Okay, not the man... as he has been dead since 1959. But while in Phoenix, Arizona for a business trip and some television appearances I had some time to kill on Sunday and decided to visit Taliesin West. This was Wright's winter camp, studio and is the main campus of the Frank Lloyd Wright School or Architecture.

The outpost was built in the 1930's as a place that Wright, his family, and his apprentices could go to escape the Wisconsin winters, while continuing to create the amazing building designs that made him famous. They would pack up the studio (the whole company) and drive across country to take up residence in the Arizona dessert for half the year.

The property is still a working school and the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The guided tour was very informative, but the amazing thing was to see the buildings that were constructed by hand by Wright and his team. They seem to naturally spring from the hillside. Experiencing way they lived, worked and entertained was inspiring.

Guests who were invited to visit Taliesin West in the 1940s and 1950s were told to bring a sleeping bag, a tuxedo (or formal dress), and a musical instrument. They would spend the evenings in the various living areas mingling with those who worked there and international celebrities who were drawn to be part of Wright's inner-circle. One could feel the power and energy that flowed through these buildings in the day! You cannot be at Taliesin West and not feel an strong attachment to the environment.

The part of Wright's work that is so amazing is that he died fifty years ago, but his designs still hold their timeless ability to amaze those who see them. Many people claim genius, but few people can really be seen as "Real Genius".

I think we should all study masters, like Frank Lloyd Wright (regardless of industry). To be able to achieve our own levels of unique accomplishment in our own lives we must understand what greatness looks like. I saw greatness in my day with FLW.

Have A Great Day.