My guest for this episode is Nigerian-British poet, screenwriter, actor, and performer, Tife Kusoro.

In 2021 Tife was announced as a Jerwood New Playwright by the Royal Court Theatre, as well as one of the BBC’s London Voices for the same year.

In October 2023 she was commissioned by The Poetry Society to write the official poem celebrating Illuminated River, a major public artwork across the Thames.

The resulting poem, “‘I Would Rather Look at You” describes a night-time journey from London Bridge to Lambeth Bridge and perfectly captures the art commission with humour and a sense of wonder.

Tife and I discussed how her enjoyment of the creative process along with her perfectionist streak easily push her through failure; her range of influences, including Marsha P Johnson, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Barry Jenkins and Michaela Coel’s Channel 4 sitcom, Chewing Gum; and how her goal is always to replicate the feelings she experiences when enjoying other artworks.

My guest for this episode is singer songwriter and session musician, Sam Crooks. At the time of recording (Jan 2024), Sam had just released his solo album “After The Night”, available on Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and Apple Music, and was due to play Glastonbury, and Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush, London with his band, Dead Pages.

Our interview covered the cognitive benefits of regular exercise, taking strategic breaks, striking a balance between focussed attention and “keeping it loose” in the recording studio, allowing collaborators to take things in unexpected directions, whether we create for ourselves or for our audience, and how an early obsession with Metallica ultimately led to the undying belief that Beethoven wrote one of the best pieces of music ever made; a piece that heavily influenced “After The Night”.

My guest for this episode is Deepak Parmar, Design and Board Director of south London B-Corp certified design consultancy, MCM Architecture.

Notable MCM clients include DeBeers, Channel 4, ITV, Conde Nast, the NFL, Estee Lauder and Mastercard.

I’ve known Deepak for a long time, and our regular conversations about creativity, covering design, music, fashion, and food where among my many inspirations for staring this podcast.

For this conversation we briefly added haircuts to that list.

Our discussion covers what he refers to as the potential creative superpowers of being from an immigrant family, how creativity begins with curiosity, finding and learning from the right mentors, and how Deepak sees his own form of mentoring as his “most creative act”. 

My guest for this episode is Doctor Aspasia Paltoglou; a senior lecturer in psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, with a PhD in cognitive neuroscience.

Aspa is also a classical pianist, having trained at the conservatory of Athens.

With that background and combination of qualifications, it was probably inevitable that she took an interest in the psychology of creativity, a topic that she carries out extensive research on as part of her role at MMU.

During our chat we discussed how we might regulate our emotions to maximise our creative potential, and how we can apply the science of creativity to become more creative ourselves.

Aspa outlined the psychological phases we go through when creating and whether there are right or wrong ways to execute them.

My guest for this episode is John Small, ex-partner at Foster and Partners (where he founded and led their Product Design Group); ex Director of Design at Steelcase; and ex tutor at the Royal College of Art, where he originally gained his Masters in furniture design and manufacturing. John is currently teaching interior design at Norwich University.

Our conversation started and ended on the topic of trying to clear creative block or as he describes it, unlocking the door to creativity. We covered the subtle differences between crafting and creating, whether it’s possible to intentionally design an icon, the importance of collaboration, and how Norman Foster sees things that others don’t, inspiring many “why didn’t I think of that?” moments.

John was speaking to me from his newly built, self-designed garden studio. He mentions his work on the LINC, Steelcase’s Learning and Innovation Centre in Munich. Both buildings are very inspiring on very different scales, and shifting between

My guest for this episode is Kelly Wray; a BBC television script editor who is currently taking time off to write her own novel.

Ian Ashley is on a mission to better understand the neuroscience and psychology of the creative process. With a near lifelong obsession for understanding how our brains work when we create, Ian has had the privilege of speaking with many great innovative and creative thinkers in art, design, fashion, and music. Through casual interviews, Contemplating Creativity investigates the inner workings of our brains when we create, whether we're crafting a masterpiece or simply deciding what to cook for dinner.