passages from "Concerning Fundamental Design," by Josef Albers

To experiment is at first more valuable than to produce; free play in the beginning develops courage. Therefore, we do not begin with a theoretical introduction; we start directly with the material...

The most familiar methods of using [materials] are summarized; and since they are already in use they are for the first time being forbidden. For example: paper, in handicraft and industry, is generally used lying flat; the edge is rarely utilized. For this reason we try paper standing upright, or even as a building material; we reinforce it by complicated folding; we use both sides; we emphasize the edge. Paper is usually pasted: instead of pasting it we try to tie it, to sew it, to rivet it...

Our aim is not so much to work differently as to work without copying or repeating others. We try to experiment, to train ourselves in "constructive thinking"...

...an essential point in our teaching is economy. Economy is the sense of thriftiness in labor and material and in the best possible use of them to achieve the effect that is desired.

-- Josef Albers, "Concerning Design," from "Werklicher Formunterricht," published in "bauhaus. zeitschrift fur gestaltung, nos. 2/3 (Dessau: 1928), pp. 3-7.

(quoted from pp. 22-23 of "Black Mountain College: Experiment in Art," edited by Vincent Katz (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2002))