Rethink Journeys Part II: Marry the problem
Explore, experiment and play!
Welcome back fellow Rethinkers and makers,
This is part II of Rethink Journeys—a four-part series for anyone carrying a creative spark (a book, a film, a song, maybe something you can’t quite name yet) and wondering/wanting how to turn it into something real.
On a personal note, I’ve been on a little treasure hunt myself—trying to find a photo of me with my fellow art school students. This week, I finally remembered which box it was tucked in up in the loft!
I’m in the second row with very successful artists Conrad Shawcross, Tim Braden (no idea why they’re wearing moustaches) and Sasha Jaffrey, who recently sold a painting for a whopping $62 million and has been chosen to place the first official artwork on the moon! Here we were, 19-year-old art students just goofing around. The photo makes me smile because it reminds me what it was like to be around very creative people who didn’t give a damn 🙂
At its heart, this series is about giving yourself permission—to begin, to explore, to get a little lost, and to find a way through. I’m sharing my own messy, curious journey bringing an idea to life at the London Design Biennale this summer, but everything I share here is designed to help you move your own idea forward.
If you missed the first part, we dove into finding ideas and discovering your process. This week, we’re entering the experimental, playful phase: the part where you start testing the idea, shaping it, and discovering what it actually wants to become—not just what you imagined it would be.
So, let’s get that idea out of your head—and into the world.
Note: this is a long post, so don’t forget to expand it if it gets cut off in your email
The fragile first steps
Nobody really tells you this when you’re starting out. But I really wish somebody had told this to me:
When you’re at the very beginning of a creative project, you’re holding something fragile. It’s an invitation for an idea to be seen and heard. And you want to be seen and heard in a different way.
But here’s the hard truth: the beginning is exciting and hard. Because there’s always a gap—the uncomfortable space between what you imagine in your head and how it first comes out. It rarely feels “good enough.” That’s the moment many people stop. They quit too early. But I don’t want that for you.
Part II of Rethink Journeys is about what happens after the initial spark. How you begin to shape your idea into something others can get behind and connect with.
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