The Creativity for All Podcast

A maths teacher can be creative. So can a financial adviser, a community builder, and a yoga teacher. Not to mention a speed painter, a potter, or an actor! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in my podcast, either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations will all manner of creative people. With The Creativity for All Podcast, I am keen to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire you to get creative too. My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind! So join me, every other Monday, as I explore and celebrate the many forms of day-to-day creativity. The Creativity for All Podcast is sponsored by Blue as an Orange, where we believe in creativity through communication, and offer mentoring and coaching for aspiring writers, and tailored language tuition for individuals and companies.

That's all, folks! 12/23/2022

Episode 48. Exploring product design with Solveiga Pakštaite 11/21/2022

Episode 48. Exploring product design with Solveiga Pakštaite The moment I came across an article about Solveiga Pakštaite, the inventor of a temperature-sensitive food label that shows when products really spoil to fight food waste and improve food safety, I knew I had to get in touch. Solveiga is also an entrepreneur with an industrial design background. She is the founder & director of Mimica and was named MIT Technology Review's Inventor of the Year. She also holds an honorary lectureship at UCL and consults on innovation projects for leading consumer and technology companies. In this episode, she shares her take on creativity, what makes design – of a toothbrush, vegetable peeler, or push door – truly functional and the difference between specialised and inclusive design. She also describes the various stages of a rigorous design process, focusing on problem-solving, as opposed to embracing solutions too early and too quickly. We discuss the value of testing one's own creativity, the logic of expiry dates, and why the focus on reducing the use of plastic has pushed aside food waste and food loss, which are huge sustainability issues. After listening to this conversation, you won't be looking at the most mundane objects around you in quite the same way, so I hope you enjoy it. More about Solveiga More about Mimica Videos Articles ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST A can be creative. So can a , a , and a . Not to mention a , a , or an ! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in , either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people. I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too. My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind! /episode/index/show/creativityforall/id/24772959

Episode 47. Exploring the magic of weaving with Rosie-may Greenbank 10/31/2022

Episode 47. Exploring the magic of weaving with Rosie-may Greenbank In September 2022, a stall at the Ely market caught my attention, not just because every woven piece was beautiful, but because I saw at the far end of the table a small weaving loom, which made me think, quite rightly, that the creator of these lovely pieces was worth having a chat with. Rosie-may Greenbank is a traditional hand-weaver, cloth designer, maker, photographer, and web designer. Working with heritage skills to create artisan cloth, she uses traditional wooden looms, very much in the same way weavers have for hundreds of years. During the first lockdown she set up her business Mays Wonderfully Woven with the help of the Prince’s Trust. She designs and weaves artisanal cloth, which is then hand-crafted into a variety of bespoke apparel, furnishings, and gifts. In this episode, Rosie-may shares her take on creativity and her creative process, from having a specific inspiration point – a colour or yarn, a visit to Bletchley Park, or the sharp contours of a piece of metal or even paper – to drawing and creating a design based on a series of numbers in a grid system, which she translates into a piece of woven cloth. To her, weave is a language. Her designs are meticulously planned, allowing her to have a flexible approach when creating her pieces, to experiment and immerse herself in the flow of weaving. Rosie-may describes the magic of building fabric, effectively creating a piece out of nothing, how the tradition of weaving has been passed on through generations, the emotional connection she has with each piece she weaves and the pride she takes in not only carrying out such a tradition, but in making it accessible to others through her online tutorials. Fabric, as she reminds us beautifully, is an integral part of our lives and each of her pieces has a unique story. This conversation made me want to grab a pencil and draw, so I hope you enjoy it and will feel equally inspired by it! Useful Links ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST A can be creative. So can a , a , and a . Not to mention a , a , or an ! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in , either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people. I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too. My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind! /episode/index/show/creativityforall/id/24759300

Episode 46. Exploring nature through creativity with Emma Stothard 10/10/2022

Episode 46. Exploring nature through creativity with Emma Stothard Sculpture, and especially willow sculpture, has always fascinated me, so when I came across Emma Stothard's website, I knew I had to get in touch. Emma is a Yorkshire-based willow and wire sculptor. Inspired by the creatures of the North York Moors, where she lives, she creates sculptures of wild/domestic animals and birds. After receiving a BA Honours in Fine Art from Southampton Solent University, she briefly moved to the Somerset Levels to learn the process of growing, coppicing, bundling, and weaving willow. In 2001, thanks to a loan from The Prince's Trust, Emma started her sculpting business. Her sculptures are exhibited nationally and internationally, with some gracing the gardens of stately homes, galleries, and private homes around the country, including a large-scale portrait of King Charles III's beloved Jack Russell dog ‘Tigga', made from willow grown on the Highgrove Estate and sited there. Emma shares her take on creativity as a continual flow of movement of the materials and of ideas, the relationship between her work and the outdoor space, from which she draws her inspiration, and how she's always pushing herself to explore her own creativity and learn something new, using different scales (from mice to dragons, elephants, and small castles), different mediums (willow, silver, bronze and copper wire, clay, ceramics), and exploring new fields (such as, jewellery, homeware, and garden furniture), with the view to creating functional pieces with a sculptural aspect. She describes the process of going from a 2-D drawing to a 3-D sculpture and of welding a metal armature as a basis to weave the willow around, giving her the freedom to create the shapes she wants. She also explains why she chose willow primarily and what makes it such an evocative and enjoyable medium. From celebrating Whitby's fishing heritage to sculpting hares and six-foot tall scarecrows, there's a palpable sense of excitement in every project Emma takes on, sometimes even adding personal touches to her sculptures and, in the process, attaching a story to them. I had a wonderful time talking to Emma and learning about her creative process, so I hope you enjoy our conversation. On Instagram: On FB: On Twitter: ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST A can be creative. So can a , a , and a . Not to mention a , a , or an ! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in , either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people. I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too. My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind! /episode/index/show/creativityforall/id/24554328

Episode 45. Challenging our beliefs creatively with Voula Tsoflias 09/19/2022

Episode 45. Challenging our beliefs creatively with Voula Tsoflias Today's guest, Voula Tsoflias, is a writer of psychological fiction and non-fiction psychology, combining her two passions in life: fiction writing and psychology. Following a long and happy career as a corporate psychologist, she now devotes her time to writing and related activities. She's finishing her third novel, Halo. Her first novel, Honor’s Shadow, was published by Karnac in 2012. She’s a contributing author to the DK Psychology book and the co-founder of Resilience for Writers, with author Isabel Costello, supporting writers through the specific challenges of trying to get published, with workshops and writings. Voula is also the Ambassador for Corporate Sponsorship for the charity , dedicated to developing the psychological fitness of next generations of children and young people, through high-quality teaching in schools. In her professional work as a psychologist, she applied the science of positive psychology, working closely with leaders facing complex business challenges. A powerful element of that, is the identification of obstacles to goals, and how to overcome them, which is also a fundamental element of most fiction. For Voula, psychology and storytelling are profoundly entwined, which is one of the many reasons I've invited her on the podcast. I’ve known her as a writer and mentor for close to nine years and I was curious to hear her take, not only on creativity and the ways to explore it, but also on emotional resilience, a topic which has been on my mind for many years. To her being creative, means thinking and seeing things differently, experimenting through a process which is both bold and challenging. She explains the core principles of Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), from which most therapies spring, how we can use our thoughts to down-regulate our feelings, as well as the various ways in which we can address our own self-criticism and "wardrobe of beliefs" we cling to. We discuss the notion of flexibility as a key component of positive psychology and creativity, the definition of realistic optimism, why self-kindness isn't as natural as being kind to others, and the creative ways we have at our disposal to reframe our internal narratives, in order to live a more fulfilling and resilient life. I finished our discussion feeling inspired and invigorated, so I hope you enjoy it. Books/websites mentioned by Voula during our conversation: Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, Martin E.P. Seligman (1990), ISBN: 978-1473684317 The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self, Dan P. McAdams (1993), ISBN: 9781572301887 ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST A can be creative. So can a , a , and a . Not to mention a , a , or an ! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in , either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people. I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too. My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind! /episode/index/show/creativityforall/id/24140490

Podcast News! 06/27/2022

Episode 43. Exploring the exponential power of kindness with Becca Reed 06/13/2022

Episode 43. Exploring the exponential power of kindness with Becca Reed Kindness.org is on a mission to educate and inspire people to choose kindness and science is the foundation and heartbeat of their work, through their collaboration with researchers at Harvard University and educators, one of the many topics raised in my conversation with today's guest, Becca Reed. Over the last decade Becca’s worked with thousands of educators and students across the US, first as a classroom teacher, a program designer and trainer, and then as an education consultant. As the latter, she worked with change-making educators and organizations to build bridges between “what is” and “what could be” in education. She is now the Director of Products & Programs at Kindness.org and the creator of the Learn Kind curriculum, a K-8 kindness curriculum powered by social-emotional learning and scientific inquiry that has reached nearly 100,000 students since its launch in 2020. Becca shares with us her take on creativity, the role of storytelling in inspiring and empowering us to choose kindness, and how science can remove barriers and help us embrace kindness wholeheartedly. We discuss the reason kindness needed rebranding, how we all have the capacity to choose it, but don’t always know where to start, and her excitement at the powerful – scientifically proven – ripple effect the smallest act of kindness can generate. By the end of this episode, you will not see kindness in quite the same light, so I hope you enjoy it. ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST A can be creative. So can a , a , and a . Not to mention a , a , or an ! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in , either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people. I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too. My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind! /episode/index/show/creativityforall/id/23269652

Episode 42. Another creative exercise 05/23/2022

Episode 41. Exploring our humanity with Ronni Abergel 05/09/2022

Episode 41. Exploring our humanity with Ronni Abergel Ten minutes is all it took between the moment I came across a post about The Human Library and the moment I sent an invitation to its founder, journalist and social change activist, Ronni Abergel, today’s guest. The Human Library is an international not-for-profit organisation, which started in Copenhagen, Denmark, 22 years ago, and is now available in 85 countries and 50 languages. Just as you borrow a printed book from your community’s library, you can borrow a human book from one of the many book depots The Human Library is running across the world. You choose a title – homeless, bisexual, bipolar, transgender, to name but a few – from a reading list of people from your community, who are facing stigmas and exclusion on a daily basis, and you spend 30 minutes with your book. You’re given a neutral space to listen and ask questions. How you choose to read your human book is up to you. To quote Ronni’s words, ‘We are in charge of our learning outcomes. It is our courage and curiosity, which define the experience and what we get to talk about. This means that no two readings nor events are the same’. My very first Human Library event, a couple of weeks before recording this conversation, was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I arrived in rainy Norwich feeling curious and excited, and as I was about to read my very first human book, a man with Asperger’s syndrome, I suddenly felt anxious, uncomfortable, and vulnerable. By the time he started telling me what his life had been like, about the judgements, the challenges, but also his passions and interests, I decided I would do my best to read as many books as was possible that day. I read five and, on the train back to Cambridge, I felt uplifted, exhilarated, and vulnerable still. An unlikely combination, perhaps, but one that reminded me that connecting with others and overcoming our fears and prejudices, means exploring our own humanity in the most creative way possible, because it means using our imagination and empathy to relate to somebody’s else experience, however different it might seem. Today Ronni shares his take on creativity and why running The Human Library feels like a calling. He describes the process of developing a sustainable model and reviewing it on a regular basis, and of creating book depots across the world, putting ethical boundaries when selecting human books and tailoring reading lists to corporate and institutional partners. We discuss what it means to acknowledge our unconscious biases, inherent to our survival instinct, and own them, in order to potentially ‘unjudge’ others, a term embraced by The Human Library which, I hope, will soon make its way into our dictionaries. When I started this podcast in January 2020, I didn’t know where it would take me. All I knew, was that I wanted to explore creativity in all its shapes and forms and meet all manner of creative people. Since then, I’ve had a wide range of guests from different parts of the world talking about our shared creativity and humanity. The fact that two years on, I am now introducing a conversation between a Dane, and myself, a French woman, recorded in English, about what brings us together as human beings, about our prejudices, fears, and vulnerability, but also the immense creativity we have at our disposal to overcome those and help us connect with one another, makes me feel not only very grateful, but also proud, so I hope you will enjoy it. ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST A can be creative. So can a , a , and a . Not to mention a , a , or an ! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in , either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people. I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. /episode/index/show/creativityforall/id/22823282

Episode 40. Honing our observation skills 04/25/2022

Episode 39. Exploring our creativity through photography with Jahan Saber 04/11/2022

Episode 39. Exploring our creativity through photography with Jahan Saber Ever since launching the podcast, I’ve wanted to invite a photographer and more specifically, someone who masters both digital and film/analogue photography. Two months ago, I came across Jahan Saber’s film photography course on Skillshare and, by the end of the first module, I knew I had to get in touch. Jahan was born in Vienna. His photographic journey began at a young age and was rekindled in his mid-twenties. Leaving a career in commercial photography, he returned to the roots of the analogue process, working mainly from his home darkroom. Jahan is currently enrolled at the University of Applied Arts of Vienna and is the founder of the DEVELOP label, which focuses on analogue processes and how their practice is essential to living a more mindful life, one of the many topics raised in today’s conversation. Jahan shares his multifaceted take on creativity, his approach to photography, focusing on the intent behind taking a picture, whether on film or with a digital camera. He explains the difference between the two mediums, but also how they complement each other. To him, photography is about reacting to the world, not just capturing a moment in time. He describes the physical process of developing a negative and making prints, which he relishes, and working on the grain of the picture, which he loves. How developing a picture gives him a second chance, not only at capturing the light, but in reliving the moment when he took it, with the potential element of surprise when discovering the final image, but also what the whole process feels like. We discuss the value of constraints, technical or otherwise, taking portraits, the intuitive feel that film photography allows, despite not being a natural process at all, and how photography is never just about the image alone. By the end of this conversation, you won’t be looking at a picture in quite the same way. And, who knows, you might start exploring your own creativity through photography? In any case, I hope you enjoy this episode. (one-month free trial membership included) ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST A can be creative. So can a , a , and a . Not to mention a , a , or an ! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in , either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people. I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too. My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind! /episode/index/show/creativityforall/id/22517012

Episode 38. Boredom and Creativity 03/28/2022

Episode 37. The creative joy of exploring the human brain with Alex Cayco-Gajic 03/14/2022

Episode 37. The creative joy of exploring the human brain with Alex Cayco-Gajic Welcome back! Season 3 starts with an exploration of the human brain, no less!, with Alex Cayco-Gajic, a junior professor at the Group for Neural Theory at the prestigious school, l’École Normale Supérieure, in Paris. Alex is interested in how different brain regions coordinate during motor and cognitive behaviours and has talked about her teaching and research with such passion and eloquence during our lessons, that I decided to invite her on the podcast to talk about the human brain, but also what makes her work so intensely creative. She describes taking a leap from applied mathematics to embrace the messiness and frequent change of pace of systems neuroscience, where the frontier of knowledge is constantly moving and boundaries on previous theories are constantly being pushed, leading her to review her own assumptions and methods on a regular basis and to come up with new creative approaches to problem-solving. Through striking examples, including my favourite, the glowing neuron, Alex not only shares her excitement about her work, but gives us a vivid and engaging picture of a field, which often seems daunting and impenetrable. We talk about the link between basic science and applied research, machine learning, language acquisition, ethics, what it’s like to work in an interdisciplinary department, but also the resilience, flexibility, and adaptability needed in her work, which often makes her feel like she’s riding one exciting wave after another. Just like my , helped us see mathematics in a whole new creative light, this is an opportunity to explore science, leaving behind our assumptions and experience from school, to discover what it’s like, and what it feels like, to explore one of the most complex subjects ever studied, the human brain. ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST A can be creative. So can a , a , and a . Not to mention a , a , or an ! Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in , either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people. I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc. My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too. My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind! /episode/index/show/creativityforall/id/22430678