Conversations on the choices we make when we build for a creative life. A repository for non-linear creative journeys. Discussions on the nature of the modern niche, and the search to find your own.
Max Lury: No Ghosts, techno-dystopia, brands as symbols
Feel the fear. And listen anyway.
London-based author Max Lury won the Curtis Brown Prize in 2022 (No Ghosts (https://peninsulapress.co.uk/products/no-ghosts)), and the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize in 23/24 (Santa Fe (https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/ssp-story-5-24)).
And yet, Max tells me he still can’t quite articulate the haunting feeling of absence and drift that emanates from our current technological moment.
Fragments of it are captured through themes and scenes from his debut novel, No Ghosts, like friendship, memory, empty spaces, symbols and impermanence.
Max calls his approach, “surrendering to things that don’t make a lot of sense.”
Trusting ourselves to sit in that discomfort, even channelling these uncertain states of being towards something generative, represents hope, building presence from absence. Even if, like the characters in No Ghosts, we’re stuck in a loop performing past versions of ourselves.
A genre-spanning conversation that dances between discomfort, fear and fascination.
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23 Sept 2026
Matt Willocks of Good Sport: Ecological systems, optimal distinctiveness, intuition
Matt Willocks (https://www.instagram.com/willocks_/), Director at Good Sport Magazine (http://www.goodsportmagazine.com/) and Studio joins me to talk about his recent essay, The Future is Trail.
In the piece, Matt uses his background in ecology and the theory of Optimal Distinctiveness to examine how niche outdoor sports are redefining sports culture.
The conversation ranges across analogue aesthetics, a complicated relationship with technology, and Matt’s run crew, AM:PM (https://www.instagram.com/am.pm.rc/?hl=en) in the context of belonging, “We can be for anyone, but we can't be for everyone,” he tells me.
Thinking about ideas around ‘belonging’ more broadly is something I’ve taken away with me.
Specifically the paradox at the heart of how we align with groups and interests that come to define our identities. We want to feel part of something, and be validated by a group. And yet we also want to feel unique, autonomous, and self-defined.
For many, the ‘optimal zone’ is at the edges: finding a group that’s small or specific enough that it makes us feel special compared to the mainstream. Chosen community is an act of self-expression, and as ‘unique’ as each one of us feels, that search for belonging unites us all.
Links → @willocks_ (https://www.instagram.com/willocks_/?hl=en-gb), Good Sport Magazine (http://www.goodsportmagazine.com/), Good Sport Substack (https://goodsportmagazine.substack.com/)
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7 Sept 2026
Hanna Benihoud: Architecture, step aerobics, secret social accounts
Artist and architect, Hanna Benihoud (https://www.instagram.com/hanna_benihoud_studio/) established her own independent North London Studio (https://hannabenihoud.com/) in 2016. A decade later, she’s made her mark across the city designing large-scale sculptures, murals, and immersive installations.
Hanna maintains a prolific, interdisciplinary output by keeping some activities just for herself. Not monetised, off the market and off the main grid. No irony intended, but it’s an approach that pays off.
Case in point: Hanna’s a stealth “one-woman ambassador” for (steady-state cardio, 90s classic) step aerobics, without posting a single Triple-Knee on her feed. Insert your own fire emoji here.
Ambition lives separately and success is measured through metrics Hanna’s set in advance with her “half-hippie, half-corporate” mentor, “I have it posted on my monitor. Tell stories. Make things. Get paid.” she tells me. “One thing doesn’t need to connect to the other. But if I’m doing those things, I’m living a successful life.”
TLDR: A conversation that begins with architecture ends with laser tag, via domestic pitch decks, iconic graffiti (RIP Helch), secret social accounts and the true story of proposing in a dark room wearing a balaclava. Hanna’s also renovating her home (https://www.youtube.com/@HANNABENIHOUD/featured) on Youtube. And that project’s definitely not a secret.
Links → Hanna’s Studio (https://hannabenihoud.com/), (non-secret) @hanna_benihoud_studio (https://www.instagram.com/hanna_benihoud_studio/?hl=en-gb), and her Youtube project (https://www.youtube.com/@HANNABENIHOUD/videos).
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
13 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 11 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
22
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
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