A podcast is a great platform for telling stories. Podcasts are ways to meet new people and hear all sorts of personal details about their lives, to explore ideas - colourful, unexpected or maybe common sense ones
I am building up a portfolio of interviews of thinkers, historians, writers, artists, architects and many types of craftspeople - also foodies and cooks and those helping make our kitchens rich places and our homes beautiful and gemütlich.
Since I was tiny, I have wanted to make things. The creation of beautiful, usable household objects has occupied my mind and my hands for as long as I can remember. At the age of five I began making Mini Bricks houses and bridges before graduating onto paper lampshades with my mum. Around six or seven a curiosity that stands out in my memory was my tabletop arrangements: miniature landscapes with toy people, animals, furniture and fake grass (velvet patches). These set me up to tell stories while my parents and siblings gathered around. I performed simple one act plays this way. Later I did woodwork with my father, the making of a children’s stool, a workshop bench, then a staircase or piece of furniture a favourite activity.
In this latest iteration of my impulse to make things, I am keen for listeners to feel they are close to the birthplace of ideas. I’d like to explore how different thinkers interpret our three-dimensional world, from psychologists and designers to neuroscientists who help us understand how behavioural needs frame our spaces. I’d like those of us who seek out the pleasures of art, craftsmanship and living well in our homes to ensure the conversation never ends.
I’ve been asked, over the years for a definition of the word ‘design’. My answer has been that it is the thinking part of any making process. This should include the mysterious, innate elements, or what I’d now call a kind of art instinct. It guides a craftsperson to produce something original and appealing and also accessible and practical.
In my podcasts I’ll be exploring these thoughts with guests, sometimes in a kitchen or a garden, discussing our behavioural needs or the making of a simple cooking tool. My first interview will be with Sophie Donelson about her new book Uncommon Kitchens: A Revolutionary Approach to the Most Popular Room in the House.
You can listen to one of the first three podcasts here, hosted by Jules Carr, long term colleague and current head of design at JG Studios: Unfollow The Rules, Shavings on the Pavement, or Studying and Making.
Here are three earlier podcasts I was hosted on that might also interest you: The Unsociable Kitchen, KBB Special Achievement and The Spoon.