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This paper reports a study that investigated the synergies of influence (that which shapes the context for creative ideas) and inspiration (that which inspires the content) during the creation process of ten seasoned textile designers towards a better understanding of creativity. The behaviors and rhythm of textile designers were mapped using participant observation with multiple methods including field observation, capturing visual records using video equipment and photography, note taking, auditory records using mp3 recorders, and conducting informal dialogue during studio sessions. The results provide detailed interpretive information in the form of themes focused on understanding how they used and transformed inspirational sources towards the completion of their projects and how designers use their personal thesauruses through their sociocultural capital as influences. No two designers used and transformed inspirational sources in exactly the same way, yet each designer exhibited multiple methods of transformation by including an element of inspiration in their design process. Four separate themes emerged when we looked at how the designers used their personal thesauruses as influences. These themes were: (a) connections made to their sociocultural capital and through research, (b) narratives found or told to focus their projects, (c) emotions related to their attachments and reactions, and (d) design elements they referenced that aided in their decision making. Our rich descriptions of when and how often influence and inspirational sources play into the creative and problem-solving processes are a step toward a better understanding of creativity as a dynamic, complex, and diverse endeavor.

Polyembryonic development is a unique mode of metazoan development in which a single zygote generates multiple embryos by clonal proliferation1. The polyembryonic parasitic insect Copidosoma floridanum shows one of the most extreme cases of polyembryony, producing up to 2,000 embryos from a single egg. In addition, this wasp exhibits an unusual polyphenism, producing two morphologically distinct larval castes, termed precocious and reproductive, that develop clonally from the same zygote2. This form of development seems incompatible with a model of insect development in which maternal pre-patterning of the egg specifies embryonic axial polarity3. Here we show that maternal pre-patterning in the form of germ plasm creates cellular asymmetry at the four-cell stage embryo of Copidosoma that is perpetuated throughout development. Laser ablations of cells show that the cell inheriting the germ plasm regulates both the fate and proliferation of the reproductive caste. Thus, we have uncovered a new mechanism of caste specification, mediated by the regulatory capacity of a single cell. This study shows that the evolution of mammalian-like regulative development of an insect embryo relies on a novel cellular context that might ultimately enhance developmental plasticity.