Books and magazines are serving as a much-needed antidote to digital content and entertainment burnout, and perhaps to boredom too. There is a renewed appetite for the tactile, the held, the finite. In a culture defined by infinite scroll, printed matter offers something else entirely: boundaries.

We are seeing this shift in how fashion brands are re-engaging with physical experience. At Jil Sander’s “Reference Library”, created in collaboration with Apartamento Magazine during Milan Design Week, 60 creatives selected books that were then displayed on podiums. Elevated like artefacts. Treated as precious objects.

“We live in an era of distracted, fragmented reading shaped by algorithms. Against this backdrop, the book stands as something worth defending, a physical object that demands slow, full attention.” — Jil Sander

Similarly, Miu Miu’s “Summer Reads” pop-up offered an accessible way to interact with the brand. Copies of books by Jane Austen, Alba de Céspedes and Sibilla Aleramo were given away, alongside ice creams served from a kiosk.

“Furthering Miu Miu’s commitment to contemporary thought and culture, books are the protagonists of Summer Reads, a series of special initiatives taking place in selected cities worldwide.” — Miu Miu

I regularly visit MagCulture in Islington, but I was particularly interested to see their pop-up in Selfridges. What happens when intimate curation meets a large-scale retail environment?

Entering through the Duke Street entrance and stepping directly into the space, there was an immediate shift. High ceilings, movement, energy, but within it a contained world. It felt like luxury. Not in the traditional sense, but in attention. A magazine space that sat somewhere between an art exhibition and an elevated retail experience.

There are people who might not know about MagCulture or travel to the Islington store. Here, they encounter it by chance. This is the power of concession and collaboration. An intelligent way for independent culture to reach new audiences without diluting itself.

This is something I speak about in my lectures at Vogue College of Fashion: the idea of “the concept within the concept”, a store within a store. When done well, collaboration becomes one of the most effective forms of marketing. Not just for reach, but for depth.

While browsing, a sales assistant offered me a small pack of postcards. It took me straight back to when visiting a store meant leaving with something small, something physical, something to keep. A fragment for a sketchbook. A memory you could hold. The experience itself was calm, attentive, and unforced. Present, but not pushy.

I love editorial. Quirky reads, abstract points of view, the interplay of image and language. Thoughtful typography. Design that carries meaning. It is a form of storytelling that does not need to explain itself fully to be understood.

Growing up, printed matter was everywhere. My mother was part of a bookshop collective, Mushroom Bookshop in Nottingham, often described as “radical”. My stepfather was an abstract minimalist artist whose medium was wood and paper. Our home was filled with books and his sculptures hung on the walls like paintings.

It was not conventional. Compared to friends’ homes, it felt different. There was judgement, even a sense of not quite fitting in. But underneath that, there was something else. An awareness that there was depth there. Thought. Care. A different way of seeing.

My father, a graphic designer, also worked outside of rules. He designed book and album covers, including A Bell Is a Cup by Wire. He always kept a collection of cut-out images and while searching through them for this cover design, he found an image of a filing cabinet and a horse’s head. His logic was simple: if a bell can be a cup, then a horse can be a filing cabinet.

Between them, I was surrounded by people who thought differently, created freely, and lived without fitting neatly into boxes. There was never much chance of being ‘normal’ for me.

Thank Goodness.

The Creative Framework:

Attention → Boundaries → Possibility.

Visit:

MAGCULTURE

Chapter Two will begin at the end of March, with seven days of meditation practices on the podcast. You’ll be able to unlock the practices with your paid subscription.

This week has been about beginning a journey of self-enquiry, learning how to start a conversation with your feelings as a source of creative insight.

We’ve explored theories around deep relaxation, including the hypnagogic state, as a way to reconnect with the root of creativity. We’ve looked at how the brain is wired and how positive self-talk can help create supportive internal pathways.

We’ve practised self-compassion, offering ourselves the same care and kindness we so often give to others and explored tools that help create space for creativity to breathe.

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This poster could have been created in five minutes in Adobe. But knowing my brain, I would probably have made a hundred versions and decided none of them were right.

There was something about the limits of the workshop: the size of the press, the selection of blocks (even though there were many), and the physical process of placing the blocks, choosing the paper, rolling the ink, pressing, then peeling back the paper and placing it to dry.

This poster isn’t perfect.
But it also very much is.

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“Beneath all the chaos, there is a wise, calm, and compassionate you.”
— Richard Schwartz

So often, even in spaces of growth and self-development, we’re encouraged to be more productive, more successful, more healed.

And wanting more — but better — and less of what doesn’t feel good is an incredibly positive thing.

Wanting to feel more aligned in your work or your personal life, wanting to use creativity as a tool for transformation, this is emotional intelligence in action.

But while we’re doing this deeper work, can we also make space for self-compassion?

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“Fear and self-doubt have always been the greatest enemies of human potential.”
— Brian Tracy

When you engage in negative self-talk, your nervous system listens. Your body responds. This isn’t abstract or “woo” — it’s neurological. The brain is naturally wired towards a negativity bias, meaning it pays more attention to perceived problems and threats than to encouragement or possibilities.

This isn’t your fault; it’s part of how the brain evolved to keep us safe.

The good news is that we can consciously regulate this negativity bias by using positive self-talk, through affirmations, mantras, and compassionate language.

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“If you know how to free yourself of tension, you know how to solve your problems in life.”
— Swami Satyananda Saraswati

We’re often told to relax, and as this quote suggests, learning how to release tension can profoundly change how we meet life’s challenges.

But it’s rarely that simple.

What does it actually mean to relax? If it’s not sleep, or a nice hot bath or lying down for five minutes, then what is it — and how do we do it?

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Today we’re exploring a simple but powerful question:

How do you feel about the way that you feel? And why does it matter?

This practice supports deeper self-enquiry by helping you notice not just what you’re feeling, but how you’re responding to it.

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What is a Creative Reset?

At its heart, a reset is an opportunity to reclaim both your physical, mental and metaphorical space.

It’s a chance to pause, evaluate what’s serving you and what isn’t, and to realign your life with your core values and sense of purpose. A reset is also an invitation to step away from unhelpful patterns and gently regulate the nervous system.

Here, we’re looking at how to integrate simple check-in mini-resets that fit naturally into everyday life.

In a culture that demands constant visibility and productivity, there is real power in tuning in and listening to the most important voice in the room: your own.

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Improve by doing XYZ.

But what if progress doesn’t begin with what we should be doing?
But with how we feel?

The idea that we need to push harder at the start of the year is so embedded we rarely question it.

Yet many of us begin January not fully rested at all, balancing limited time off, busy family days, or, for some, the quiet weight of loneliness.

What’s often missing from the conversation isn’t discipline or motivation; it’s state. The internal conditions we’re operating from. When the nervous system is braced, clarity narrows—imagination contracts. Even well-intentioned goals start to feel heavy.

What we often need instead isn’t another directive or demand, but something gentler: kind words, inspiration, and permission to begin from where we actually are.

Rather than productivity coming from constant effort, research increasingly points to the role of rest. When the body settles into a sense of safety, thinking becomes less reactive. Decisions feel truer. Creativity has space to move.

This is where the idea of deep rest becomes important. Not switching off, but settling into a state where the body and mind receive the same message: nothing needs fixing right now.

From this place, action becomes clearer, not forced.

This is also why practices like vision boarding or manifesting can feel strangely out of reach when we’re under pressure to be better. It’s not a failure of belief or intention, it’s that expansion is difficult when the system is still in defence mode.

I studied a foundation course in psychotherapy at the CCPE, every practical session began with meditation or visualisation. We were also taught short clearing practices to use between clients. The effect was consistent: more presence, more care, more depth. Not because we tried harder, but because we slowed down first.

The same principle appeared again in my somatic meditation training. Before sitting in stillness, we always began by relaxing the body. The practice that followed was noticeably more grounded and effective.

This is the foundation of the 21-Day Reset.

It doesn’t start with finding your why, setting goals, or designing a future self. It starts with seven days of short, gentle practices centred on deep rest, treating doing nothing not as avoidance, but as a powerful source of clarity and productivity.

The Reset is built around three principles that are both scientifically supported and integral to my professional training. It doesn’t ask you to become someone else.

It asks you to be who you already are, as you are.

No vision boards that feel like shopping lists.
No fixation on numbers or future outcomes.
No striving disguised as growth.

Each chapter spans a month, with seven practices and a clear area of focus, allowing space for integration rather than overload.

We begin in January with deep rest,
and the quiet power of doing less.

If this resonates, you’re warmly invited to move through RESET with me.

This is available to paid subscribers through the private podcast link coming soon.

Or simply take this as permission to start slowly.

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For many of us, that story alone is enough to stop us in our tracks before we even begin.

But what if presence doesn’t ask for much at all?
What if all that’s needed is a few minutes, or even a few breaths, to settle the mind, calm the nervous system, or simply get us out of a funk?

I practise around three hours a week lead by teacher (when I can) but I often find myself returning to my own mini meditations throughout the day — especially when I’m busy, or before a big meeting.

Breathing Space.

Find some breathing space in as little as three minutes.

Why three minutes?

Three minutes is realistic.

It fits between meetings, before you open your inbox, after a difficult conversation, or at the end of a long day.

And importantly, it’s enough.

Recent research into “micro-practices” shows that very short moments of mindfulness, sometimes as little as 20 seconds, can calm the nervous system, interrupt spiralling thoughts, and leave a sense of steadiness that carries on long after the practice ends.

Not because they’re intense,
but because they’re doable.

Consistency, it turns out, matters more than duration.
A little, often, can be far more supportive than long practices we rarely manage to return to.

The somatics of breathing

This Mini Meditation invites you to return to the grounding support of the breathing body. What’s often not said about meditation is that it is somatic — of the body. The mind rests in the body, and when the body softens, the mind can too.

No special state to reach.
No pressure to feel calm or “clear”.

Just the simple, direct experience of breathing as it’s happening right now.

In the practice, you’ll notice that the breath is always there to support you — you just need the space to feel it.

This alone can soften the nervous system, help emotions move through rather than get stuck, and remind you that you’re supported, even when life feels busy or overwhelming.

Designed for real life

This isn’t about retreat conditions or perfect mornings.

It’s for:

When your mind feels full
When your body feels tight or tired
When you need to re-centre before moving on

Three minutes won’t fix everything.
But it can create a moment — a breathing space — where things can begin to settle.

And often, that’s enough to change how the next moment unfolds.

An invitation

You don’t need to prepare.
You don’t need to do it “well”.
You just need to arrive as you are.

If you’ve been telling yourself you’re too busy to meditate, consider this your permission to begin small.

Find some breathing space in as little as three minutes.

The Mini Meditation: The Three Minute Breathing Space is here whenever you need it.

You can listen to the practice on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or the podcast section here on Substack, and return to it whenever you need a moment of steadiness.

As a creative ideas person with a thirst for information and an entrepreneurial mind, I’ve found meditation to be incredibly supportive. It creates space, gives my intuition room, and lets my creativity flow.

So, I’ve created a series of foundational Mini Meditations for you, simple, grounding practices you can drop into anytime, anywhere.

Each one offers a gentle glimpse into the inner workings of your subconscious, the place beneath the surface where clarity actually lives.

These sessions will be released on the SIT STUDIO podcast and are a prelude to the 21-day RESET series coming in January.

You can find the podcast on Spotify, Apple, and other major platforms.
Just hit Follow to be notified of each new practice — like a memo reminding you to check in with yourself.

Where my meditation story begins

The image above is the Sanctuary at the Findhorn Foundation, being built — the place where I first experienced meditation at age eleven.

My auntie had gone on retreat to this beautiful eco-community in the north of Scotland. My dad, my cousins, and I went to visit her, and it felt utterly magical. The community spirit was lived-in and bone-deep.

My favourite spot (predictably) was the gift shop, where I bought a deck of Angel cards I still own today… but then there was the Sanctuary.

It was my first encounter with what you might call formal meditation. The instructions were simple:

Go in.
Sit down.
Close your eyes.
Be quiet.
Meditate.

Alright then. No problem.

So in we went, my cousins and I.

The air smelled of sandalwood. The space felt like a cross between a church and a library — a place where silence wasn’t empty but full of something working quietly in the background.

After a few minutes of “this meditation stuff”, we dissolved into giggles and ran outside, leaving the adults to it.

Gone but not forgotten.

Returning to the practice

Years later, meditation returned to me with a different kind of clarity.

I learned with Buddhist monks.
I trained with the Mindfulness Association.
I explored somatic meditation, yoga nidra, in studios across london and visualisation during my psychotherapy foundation at the CCPE.
I studied Transcendental Meditation — loved the practice, less so the army-camp teaching style. Life isn’t a strict timetable your mind must obey. It’s a flow.

One moment I’ll always remember: a fellow student whispering to me how stressed she was about fitting in her twice-daily twenty-minute sessions. And I just sat there thinking, isn’t that ironic — in full Alanis Morissette voice.

Stressed. About. Meditating.

Eventually, I found myself back at a Buddhist centre, learning from a teacher who was also a psychotherapist. Watching him weave Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems into a weekend of meditation helped me find the confidence to teach in my own way rather than simply repeat what had been passed down.

Meditation became a thread running through everything.

And even though thousands of meditations exist online — apps, recordings, untrained teachers everywhere — people kept telling me the same thing:

“Your voice is so calming.”
“You simplify the practice in such a lovely way.”
“Your meditations feel like a loving balm.”
“I don’t usually like meditation, but the way you teach is different.”

And when different people tell you the same thing again and again, eventually you think… maybe try it,

So I did.

Introducing Mini Meditations.

Simplified practices designed for real life.

Each one is short.
Each one is grounding.
Each one is a way back to yourself.

Insight Talks
Short teachings that shift perspective and anchor clarity.

Mini Meditations
Somatic drops into stillness that settle the nervous system and soften mental noise.

Visualisations
Guided journeys for intuition, motivation, and self-belief.

The Mini Meditations (Foundation Series) podcast will be released later this week and emailed straight to your inbox!

Let’s sit.

Esme

“I do not hesitate to affirm that the perception of Space is a primary natural sense which belongs to the basic senses of our psychology…. the artist who is dealing with the domain of visual art, will understand me when I say that we experience this sense as a reality, both internal and external. Our task is to penetrate deeper into its substance and bring it closer to our consciousness; so that the sensation of Space will become for us a more elementary and everyday emotion the same as the sensation of light…or sound.” Naum Gabo

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Over the past few months, I’ve been spending more time immersed in physical creative research, digging through old CSM sketchbooks, boxes of magazine tears, and lookbooks I’ve collected from brands I’ve worked for and admired. Some I’ve kept for nearly 20 years.

I’ve returned to my favourite bookshops and magazine haunts (though many have sadly closed). Still, the act of browsing brings a comforting familiarity—a kind of homecoming. It takes me back to childhood afternoons spent in my mother’s bookshop, surrounded by stories, paper, and possibility.

Printed matter has become a kind of meditation: a ritual, a self-soothing reconnection with creativity. Something that, before the digital world took over, was simply how research and development happened.

A visual meditation.
A somatic meditation.
A creative ritual.

Just the act of entering a shop, letting my eyes wander, picking up a magazine or book...
Turning pages. Letting images and words — the language, the pacing — sink in.

I highlight.
I Post-it note.
I underline.
I notice patterns and make connections I wasn’t looking for.

My hands are involved. My senses are awake.

Is this a thing of the past?
A form of nostalgia for a slower, pre-scroll world?
Or simply a much-needed recalibration, a return to the tactile?

Originality, instinct, and integrity matter more than ever.
In a world of trends, templates, and remixes, digital research often leads to recycled thinking:
Quick inspiration. Fast content. Familiar references.
It’s efficient, but not always original.

A Return to the Hands

If you’re a creative leader feeling stuck, burnt out, or uninspired by the algorithm, take a virtual step back.

Let your hands be part of the process again.
Handle the pages. Circle the margins.
Let something physical lead you back into your creative body.

Less virtual. More tactile.

You don’t have to disconnect forever.
Just long enough to remember:

Creative research doesn’t always start with your IG saves or a Pinterest search. Sometimes, it begins with a chair, a book, and a quiet moment, free from distractions and notifications.

Here are some of my favourite Bookstores in London.

Donlon Books

Idea Books

Claire de Rouen

MagCulture

Artworlds Books

Less hype, more art…

Hype sells.

We’ve seen it over and over: loud voices, big claims, constant pressure to show up, stand out, and do more.

In the race for attention, louder often wins.
Or does it?

If we look at brands that have become everyday staples, such as Apple or Nike (not that I’m promoting their business ethics, only their brand model), what stands out is not volume but clarity and consistency.

So here’s the real question:

What if your branding didn’t have to shout?
What if you approached your campaign like an artist, with integrity, intention, and care?

What if you wanted to draw on your own originality instead of regurgitating someone else’s copy-and-paste ideas? What if you allowed yourself to develop your own thinking, your own voice, your own creative direction?

For brands built on design, craftsmanship, and thoughtful production, your growth strategy should reflect that same ethos. I’m not saying abandon performance. I’m saying stop compromising consideration and clarity for short-term metrics. If your product is considered, your creative should be too.

Let your brand be shaped by a strong creative direction.

That’s your edge. That’s your USP.

Because an image, when curated with care, paired with honest, well-placed text can say so much.

Here’s the truth most people avoid:

Creativity isn’t the problem.
Clarity is.

And clarity doesn’t come from another expert telling you how to think.
It comes from tuning back into yourself, the place where ideas move freely, intuition sharpens, and your direction becomes self-led rather than externally imposed.

Because brand building isn’t just strategy.
It’s identity work.
Confidence work.
Inner work.

When you’re overwhelmed, burnt out, or pulled in a thousand directions, the answer isn’t to shout louder.
It’s to listen deeper.

This is what I call a zen approach to sustainable growth.

No tricks. No noise.

Just clarity, beauty, and alignment between what you make and how you market it. And maybe, just maybe, that’s the kind of quiet hype your audience is really craving.

This is why I created the 21-Day Creative Reset.

The Creative Reset is a conscious return to yourself for founders, freelancers, artists, and anyone building from their inner world.

It’s a practice for shifting:
• Burnout → self-trust
• Overwhelm → grounded clarity
• Hype → inner wisdom

In a culture that demands constant visibility and productivity, there is real power in being able to tune in and hear the most important voice in the room: your own.

Reset is your space to recalibrate, reconnect, and clear out the noise.

A steady 21-day series, drip-fed in short daily audio episodes, delivered straight to your favourite podcast feed via a private link.

Nothing overwhelming.
Nothing performative.
Just simple, grounded practices you can integrate into real life.

You’ll receive:

🎧 Insight Talks
Short, perspective-shifting teachings to bring clarity and creative intention back online.

🎧 Mini Meditations
Somatic grounding practices that settle your nervous system and create mental space.

🎧 Visualisations
Guided inner journeys to unblock intuition, reconnect to motivation, and deepen self-belief.

📝 Workbook & Prompts
Journal reflections and practical tools to support your process.

It’s less about stepping back from life —
and more about creating space within it.

If Less Hype, More Art resonates…
then the RESET is the practice that supports it.
A quiet, grounded way back to yourself — and to the kind of clarity your brand has been craving.

Upgrade to Paid to get access to the RESET private podcast link.