THE (UN)LEARN PODCAST creates moments of self-discovery.
Each episode explores the power of the mind through unfiltered stories of resilience, curiosity, and personal growth with artists, thinkers, and cultural practitioners.
Hosted by without SHAPE without FORM, a cultural platform inviting global voices to a cross-cultural dialogue about purposeful living.
What lies beneath the surface of what we present to the world? Recorded in her Toronto studio, artist Russna Kaur joins host Deep Kailey to explore how internal mental chatter manifests on the canvas and how creative practice mirrors life’s unanswerable complexities. Drawing from her background as a biology major, Russna shares how studying anatomical structures under a microscope transformed her understanding of inner workings versus external facades—a perspective sharpened after surviving a life-altering car crash that compelled her to dive completely into painting.
The conversation reflects on how we are born as blank canvases, continually adding unnecessary layers throughout life only to one day realise we must return back to that black canvas. Together, they discuss abstraction as a radical tool to slow down in an instant-gratification society, confronting the discomfort it can provoke, and how achieving true simplicity—whether in a masterwork or a stilled mind—is the highest form of discipline.
Russna Kaur is a Toronto-based visual artist known for her vibrant, large-scale modular paintings that challenge traditional boundaries of surface and space. Her dynamic practice investigates the complex interplay between chaos, order, memory, and the multifaceted layers of human experience.
Her incredible first limited-edition artist book, 'Looking Closely: Painting, Process & Abstraction' , is out soon, register interest here: https://elaiabooks.fillout.com/russnakaur
14 Sept 2026
Designing Beyond Form (ft. OK-RM)
What happens when design stops being about creating objects and becomes a way to understand the world? Ollie Knight and Rory McGrath, founders of the independent design practice OK-RM, join us to reflect on an 18-year journey driven by intuition over logic and predefined answers. We explore the space between instinct and structure, the importance of allowing ideas to evolve without over-defining them, and why the most profound creative work often begins without a name or a fixed form. Together, we examine what it means to question convention, reconnect with innate intuition, and cultivate a creative practice that is fluid, evolving, and deeply human.Ollie Knight and Rory McGrath are the founders of OK-RM, an independent design practice working across visual identity, publishing, art, research, and cultural initiatives. Their practice centers on deep collaboration, intuitive process, and building meaningful relationships between people, ideas, and spatial environments.
10 Aug 2026
The Fragrance You Leave Behind
Who are you when no one is watching? Rajdeep, Ameet and Simran sit down for a raw, relatable conversation about what it truly means to live authentically. They reflect on their university years, the pressure to please others, and the heavy burden of wearing different masks at work, with family, and across curated social media profiles.
Highlighting the striking disconnect between desire and reality—where 97% of people believe authenticity breeds happiness, yet only 16% feel they can be themselves at work—the team explores how to adapt your delivery without compromising your core integrity. They discuss how our default qualities of compassion, patience, and honesty become clouded over time by a busy and noisy mind, and how the practical application of Simran helps strip away those layers to reconnect with who we truly are. The episode leaves us with a compelling question for daily life: when you walk out of a room, what fragrance do you leave behind?
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
795,761
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Spotify
5.0 / 5
19 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 58 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
63
Social presence
0
YouTube
82
Engagement
51
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