Last updated July 25, 2024 – 4:14 p.m.
A brand new podcast has been launched with the aim of helping creative people get away from their social media feeds and discover new artistic and cultural references.
From Amy Winehouse to Island Records, Blue Velvet to Baby Reindeer, creative legends including DJ Jill Peterson, WeTransfer co-founder Damian Bradfield and fashion publicist Mesh Chhibber discuss the cultural reference points and lifelong passions that have driven them in New References, a new podcast from creative agency We Are Pi.
In each episode, We Are Pi founder and CEO Alex Bennett-Grant interviews a different creative leader and asks them to share their inspirations and cultural reference points, revealing what drives them and how they stay ahead of the competition.
Alex delves deeper into their references and also offers advice for anyone feeling creatively stuck.
Episode one features Damian Bradfield, co-founder and chief creative officer of file-sharing company WeTransfer and editorial website WePresent, who shares his passion for supporting the arts, how his journey as a brand activist from Trump to Brexit led to an Oscar win, what he hates about technology and what he loves about luxury.
In the second episode, Alex interviews Gilles Peterson, world renowned DJ, BBC Radio host and founder of Brownswood Recordings, Worldwide FM and Worldwide Festival.
Peterson explores his lifelong love of jazz, funk, electronic and hip hop music, revealing some of the icons, places, moments and scenes that have inspired him over the years.
In episode three, Mesh Chhibber, former understudy for Andre Leon Talley and now luxury fashion connector and PR for John Galliano, Stella McCartney and Rick Owens, joins Alex to talk about his passion for supporting young designers, his chance encounter with The Face magazine at boarding school in the 80s, and the joys and sorrows of working with John Galliano.
“Our creativity is often defined by our creative output – our work,” says Alex Bennett Grant. “But what about our inputs – our references? The deeply personal cultural and artistic reference points that fuel our individual creativity. Inspiring new reference points that reinspire us when we hit a creative dead end. Real-world experiences, past and present, that give us a unique perspective that's different from everyone else on your feed.
“This podcast is meant to give creative people new reference material and new inspiration to go out and create.”
The first episode of “New References,” featuring guest Damien Bradfield, is available now on Apple and Spotify.
