Welcome to Rethink with Rachel!
Hello Rethinkers!
I'm fascinated by processes, particularly reimagining artefacts and reviving old crafts that are antithetical to our fast-moving screen culture. I take tremendous care and pleasure in joining the dots across disciplines and sharing them with audiences. This practice of sensemaking has helped me make art, teach at Oxford, give TED talks and write my three books. It also helps me write the Rethink newsletter every month and it’s a practice I try to help nurture with paid subscribers.
Rethink is a map of my own practice and line of inquiry into the origins of ideas that reshape our lives. You’ll get sneak peeks of new projects I’m working on as they grow and develop. You’ll be on the inside of my search for the real meaning of concepts. And I’ll also share all the things I listen to, read, watch, and enjoy that feed my work and life.
Whether you sign up for free or upgrade to a paid subscription, I'm so glad you’re here.
Warmly,
What is Rethink?
Rethink is a space for curious minds to pause, stretch, and see the world a little differently. Think of it as a invitation to slow the pace, to step off the treadmill of the immediate, and to look again at the patterns that shape our lives.
Each edition is crafted to help you:
Challenge assumptions and uncover new lenses on familiar ideas
See problems through a visual lens, where design, history, and imagination reveal hidden connections
Enter deeper conversations that resist the quick take and reward reflection
Apply fresh insights to your work and your everyday choices
Ask better questions, the kind that prompt rethinking rather than rushing to easy answers
It’s not about more information or content churn, but about finding more meaning in the beautiful, overlooked and familiar.
Why join Rethink?
If you’re the kind of person who loves to turn ideas inside out, to consider them through a design thinking lens, to join dots across disciplines (and who is always adding one more title to the reading or listening list!) then you’ll feel at home in the Rethink community.
For free subscribers:
One newsletter every month that will make you think differently.
For paid subscribers:
Full access to the archive of 185+ reader favorites and timeless essays.
Curated resources: a quarterly collection of what I’m reading/observing/listening to, over 45+ book recommendations + takeaways, and special reports on big topics like trust, creativity, and leadership.
And my gratitude—lots of it—because being a paid subscriber means you’re directly supporting the development of my ideas.
Here’s what some Rethinkers have to say:
ABOUT RACHEL
I’m an artist, researcher and storyteller at heart. While I’m most widely known for my TED talks, teaching at Oxford, and books, my creative work also takes the form of large-scale installations — most recently Roots of Trust at the London Design Biennale — which explore the paradigm shifts shaping our lives.
I like to unwind by gardening, running, making “stuff,” and spending time at home in Oxford with my husband, our two children, and Mack, our beloved dog who faithfully curls up under my desk most days.
