The Creativity for All Podcast

We're back! And for the 30th episode of The Creativity for All Podcast, I decided to give listeners the opportunity to share their very own definition of creativity, as well as any tips/suggestions they might have to nurture our creative potential. Many of you got in touch, thank you for that!, and it's been great fun reflecting on your definitions and suggestions, so I hope you will enjoy this episode.

The Creativity for All Podcast explores creativity in all its forms. With each guest I interview every two episodes, we discuss what it means to be creative in their daily life, zooming in on the mechanics behind their creativity and debunking myths, wherever possible, to show you that you too can be creative on a daily basis, that you don't have to be an artist to be creative. My hope is to show you that creativity is everywhere and to inspire you to tap into your own creative potential.

ABOUT 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 The Creativity for All 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 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!

The Creativity for All Podcast is currently on a break, but for the 30th episode, I've decided to give you the opportunity to share your very own definition of creativity, as well as any tips/suggestions you might have to nurture our creative potential.

Send me an email at [email protected] and I will include your responses in my next episode. I look forward to learning more about your take on creativity!

A couple of weeks ago, an article caught my attention on the BBC website. It was the story of how a Mexican doctor had got in touch with the British company making the backpack he'd been using for a year to voice his frustration, because he couldn't use it anymore. The coronavirus pandemic was raging and his backpack couldn't be sterilised and taken into the hospital. Not only did the owner and creator of the bag, Sarah Giblin, respond to his message, but with his feedback, she designed in only 11 months – and during lockdown – the first backpack that can be sterilised and therefore used safely by medical staff.

This isn't Sarah's first invention. On her commute one day, in 2012, she noticed a problem with backpacks: the person behind you can get into it. The solution? Remove zips on the outside of the backpack and design them neatly against your back. Her creation, RiutBag, is used daily by over 20,000 travellers around the world and has sparked an anti-theft backpack industry making travel safer for millions.

I was so impressed by Sarah's creative response to not just one, but two specific safety needs, that I immediately invited her on the podcast to discuss her creative approach to functionality.

Sarah is passionate about improving the user's quality of life and shares her motto, function before form, the process of embracing her new ideas and bringing them to life, and her very own take on creativity. If you thought functionality isn't creative, think again!

Visit www.riut.co.uk to see the latest RiutBags Sarah has created.

Taking an invention from idea to the marketplace (BBC article)

The Creativity for All Podcast explores creativity in all its forms. With each guest I interview every two episodes, we discuss what it means to be creative in their daily life, zooming in on the mechanics behind their creativity and debunking myths, wherever possible, to show you that you too can be creative on a daily basis, that you don't have to be an artist to be creative. My hope is to show you that creativity is everywhere and to inspire you to tap into your own creative potential.

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.

Episode 7, entitled 'Feeding your creative brain', is by far the most downloaded solo episode of this podcast, which has led me to think that you'd welcome a new episode exploring this topic further. Today I'm looking at the ways in which we can identify our own creative potential, lean into it, and feed it properly. Creativity not only helps us manage our life, but makes it more engaging and fun, so how about taking a moment to think about how you can access it and make it an integral part of your life?

The Creativity for All Podcast explores creativity in all its forms. With each guest I interview every two episodes, we discuss what it means to be creative in their daily life, zooming in on the mechanics behind their creativity and debunking myths, wherever possible, to show you that you too can be creative on a daily basis, that you don't have to be an artist to be creative. My hope is to show you that creativity is everywhere and to inspire you to tap into your own creative potential.

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, as well as tailored language tuition for individuals and companies.

In 2018, out of sight, anonymously, and with a ginormous morsel of trepidation, a mysterious duo took to the streets of Cambridge, UK, with an unexpected mission to *SAVE THE WORLD*. It sounds implausible, but they were contacted by an other-worldly being known only as the 'Supreme Leader', who asked them to spread wonder, delight, and a healthy dose of happy, here on planet Earth. This unfathomable alien entity had noticed that many of the humans were a bit miserable, what with the relentless daily onslaught of terribly-depressing terrible news, and everything. They needed willing accomplices to help them on this mission to cheer up Earth's inhabitants. A crack team who didn't ask too many questions and weren't afraid to drill into concrete they strictly weren't allowed to drill into. The Supreme Leader was most insistent that they should *SAVE THE WORLD* through the medium of… er… it says here 'dinky little doors'. Which was a bit weird. Surprisingly small doors. Hidden just out of sight. Made with care, passion, and designed to deliver a perky payload of positivity. To lift your mood, prepare you for the day's next challenge, and start a chain reaction of optimism that could *SAVE THE WORLD*.

And so Dinky Doors was born. Guerrilla street artists, installing quirky 'fairy' doors under the slightly erratic direction of an unknown Supreme Leader. There are currently 10 'doors' hidden around Cambridge, all unique, all slightly weird, and not really anything like what you might think a fairy door should look like.

Unsurprisingly, Dinky and Doorky – or Team Dinky – have a lot to say about creativity and inspiration in this episode, and they even have news about the Supreme Leader! Now that's a relief...

You can find out more about their mission to *SAVE THE WORLD* at dinkydoors.co.uk or follow them on Twitter @dinky_doors and Instagram @dinkydoors.

The Creativity for All Podcast explores creativity in all its forms. With each guest I interview every two episodes, we discuss what it means to be creative in their daily life, zooming in on the mechanics behind their creativity and debunking myths, wherever possible, to show you that you too can be creative on a daily basis, that you don't have to be an artist to be creative. My hope is to show you that creativity is everywhere and to inspire you to tap into your own creative potential.

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, as well as tailored language tuition for individuals and companies.

This week, I'm moving away from the usual format to offer a practical approach to nurturing our creativity with a short meditation exercise. While not a meditation teacher, nor an expert, I know that meditating, even shortly, makes us feel better and the more we meditate, the more creative energy we have.

So today we're focusing on our breath, letting our nervous system relax and inviting silence in. Needless to say, you can repeat this exercise as often as needed. I hope it will bring you peace and quiet.

The Creativity for All Podcast explores creativity in all its forms. With each guest I interview every two episodes, we discuss what it means to be creative in their daily life, zooming in on the mechanics behind their creativity and debunking myths, wherever possible, to show you that you too can be creative on a daily basis, that you don't have to be an artist to be creative. My hope is to show you that creativity is everywhere and to inspire you to tap into your own creative potential.

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, as well as tailored language tuition for individuals and companies.

I came across the breathtakingly beautiful glass pieces created by Studio Gillies Jones on the Fen Ditton Gallery website and, unusually for me, I was desperate to touch, and grab hold of, them. Such a visceral reaction led me to immediately invite Kate Jones on the podcast to discover her creative process and the art of glassblowing and engraving. She and her partner, Stephen Gillies, both studied at Stourbridge College of Art (Stephen, glass design, and Kate, fine art), and established their joint studio in 1995 to develop a range of sculptural vessels and contemporary glassware for everyday life. Within the collaboration each artist has specific skills sets: Stephen blows the glass and adds layers of colour, while Kate slowly engraves away these layers to reveal the colours within. They draw inspiration from the patterns and histories of the North York Moors landscape that surrounds their studio and from their commitments to the demanding skill of hot glassmaking. In the past three decades, they've created a distinctive collection of batch-produced glass bowls that are collected internationally and critically acclaimed unique works in Swedish overlay. These unique works push their technical and creative limits through a range of larger free-form one-off vessels which celebrate elements of the landscape and are in numerous museum collections including the V&A. Self-taught Kate describes the process of glass blowing – which Stephen is passionate about – the technique of Swedish overlay, glass colouring and engraving; where Stephen's work ends and hers begins; moving from 2-D drawing to 3-D engraving; and using nature and her "curiosity of the small" as inspiration. She shares with us what it feels like to be in tune with glass, learning to work within its limitations, while still exploring new, spontaneous ways to draw and mark it. How playing with the light, with transparency and reflections, makes a piece sings and how that magical result often comes as a surprise. Kate's creative approach is both rigorous and relaxed, exploratory and fun, so I hope you will enjoy our conversation and feel as inspired as I do by Kate and Stephen's talent.

Studio Gillies Jones The making of overlay / original work Fen Ditton Gallery online exhibition

The Creativity for All Podcast explores creativity in all its forms. With each guest I interview every two episodes, we discuss what it means to be creative in their daily life, zooming in on the mechanics behind their creativity and debunking myths, wherever possible, to show you that you too can be creative on a daily basis, that you don't have to be an artist to be creative. My hope is to show you that creativity is everywhere and to inspire you to tap into your own creative potential.

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, as well as tailored language tuition for individuals and companies.

As with anything we feel strongly about, and is worth embracing, creativity takes determination but also nurturing. Season 2 of the podcast explores the many ways in which we can nurture our creative potential, but what does it mean practically? What does taking care, feeding, and protecting our creativity look like?

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.

Alison Grade has been a professional freelancer all her career and describes her key skill as transforming creative concepts into a business reality. She accomplishes this with the films she produces, the creative entrepreneurs she mentors, small and medium enterprises she advises, and in her book, The Freelance Bible (Penguin). The minute I came across an article about Alison, I knew I wanted to interview her on the podcast to discuss, not only what it means to embrace a freelancing career, but also the tricky relationship between creativity and business. Drawing from her academic training, as well as from her experience as an entrepreneur who has established her own businesses and worked at senior level in many media companies, Alison shares her take on creativity as problem-solving. Whether it's finding solutions and new ideas for enterprises or helping creative entrepreneurs becoming empowered, solving problems is at the core of everything she does. And at a time when we're redefining work conditions and productivity, after a year of working from home, I'm sure many of you will find it inspiring to hear her debunk myths about freelancing and describe the joy and excitement of seeing her clients understand their 'why' and own their space, story, and value in the world.

For further details on Alison's work:

Alison's website

Alison's LinkedIn Profile

The Creativity for All Podcast explores creativity in all its forms. With each guest I interview every two episodes, we discuss what it means to be creative in their daily life, zooming in on the mechanics behind their creativity and debunking myths, wherever possible, to show you that you too can be creative on a daily basis, that you don't have to be an artist to be creative. My hope is to show you that creativity is everywhere and to inspire you to tap into your own creative potential.

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, as well as tailored language tuition for individuals and companies.

That curiosity is key to any creative pursuit might seem obvious. It does not mean, however, that the correlation between the two is easy to pinpoint.

In this episode, I'm exploring the nature of curiosity, the obstacles we might encounter when embracing it, such as assumptions and passivity, as well as suggestions to re-energize curiosity and turn it into our most powerful creative ally, so I hope you enjoy it.

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.