My guest for this episode is John Small, ex-partner at Foster and Partners (where he founded and led their Product Design Group); ex Director of Design at Steelcase; and ex tutor at the Royal College of Art, where he originally gained his Masters in furniture design and manufacturing. John is currently teaching interior design at Norwich University.

Our conversation started and ended on the topic of trying to clear creative block or as he describes it, unlocking the door to creativity. We covered the subtle differences between crafting and creating, whether it’s possible to intentionally design an icon, the importance of collaboration, and how Norman Foster sees things that others don’t, inspiring many “why didn’t I think of that?” moments.

John was speaking to me from his newly built, self-designed garden studio. He mentions his work on the LINC, Steelcase’s Learning and Innovation Centre in Munich. Both buildings are very inspiring on very different scales, and shifting between project sizes like this is another topic we covered.