Daring Forever (Find your Extraordinary)

Latest Episodes:

Dare to not know what you are - Rik Oostenbroek Mar 16, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, Radim sits down with Rik Oostenbroek — Dutch visual artist, digital pioneer, and restless creative explorer — for a wide-ranging conversation that moves between nostalgia, grief, identity, and the strange beauty of not knowing what comes next.

Rik reflects on two decades of carving his own path through commercial illustration, abstract digital art, the NFT world, and now the physical realm of screenprinting and sculpture, always guided by the same curiosity that drove him as a 14-year-old discovering DeviantArt.

The conversation is also a tribute to their mutual friend and creative force, Rutger Rutger Paulusse, who passed away recently, and whose influence on Rik's move toward physical making is one of the episode's most moving threads.

Key Takeaways

Staying connected to the version of yourself that first fell in love with the work is not nostalgia — it's a survival strategy for sustaining a long creative career
The early internet art community thrived precisely because there were no tutorials; being forced to ask another person built deeper connections than any algorithm can replicate
Commercial success and artistic authenticity require constant, conscious negotiation — comfort can arrive too soon and pull you away from what truly makes your work feel like yours
The NFT movement gave digital artists something the agency world rarely did: the experience of being seen as artists rather than production tools
Translating digital work into physical form is an act of surrender and discovery — CMYK will never match RGB, and that limitation can become a new creative constraint worth embracing
Protecting a separate personal life from creative identity is not avoidance — it is how some artists sustain the passion and playfulness their work depends on
The people who push you hardest toward your best self leave the deepest mark; honouring their legacy means doing the very things they dared you to do

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com

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"I'm a unicorn that simply refuses to be put inside a horse box." (Sarah Masters bonus episode) Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

A short bonus episode showcasing a few standout moments from this week's guest interview with Sarah Ellen Masters ~

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com

Dare to pick up the pieces - Sarah Ellen Masters Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

Sarah Ellen Masters is a collage artist, workshop facilitator, and founder of Colle — a creative business born from her own healing journey. In this deeply personal conversation, Sarah traces how dyslexia, public shame at school, and years of emotional isolation led her, unexpectedly, to the transformative power of collage. ~

What began as a master's project questioning her own bias against the medium evolved into a daily practice, a business, and a mission to bring accessible, hands-on creativity back into communities, schools, and organisations.

Sarah shares how she turned Julia Cameron's morning pages into a visual ritual, why she sources materials from charity shops and her grandmother's belongings, and how sitting side-by-side with workshop participants — not above them — defines her entire philosophy of creative empowerment.

Key Takeaways

Creativity can be suppressed from a very young age — for Sarah, dyslexia and an unsupportive school system created decades of shame and self-doubt before she found her creative identity in her late twenties.
Collage has a uniquely low barrier to entry because, unlike drawing or painting, it was never formally graded at school — meaning most people carry no negative conditioning around it.
Sarah developed a daily practice of writing diary entries, distilling each into three words, then translating those words into imagery — a powerful visual alternative to traditional journalling.
Being present over perfect is the core principle behind her workshops. The process matters far more than the finished image, making it genuinely accessible to everyone.
The labels we carry — "shy", "stupid", "black sheep" — are rarely accurate. Sarah unpacks how misdiagnosed shyness was actually years of learned isolation, and how collage helped her reclaim her organic self.
Sources and materials matter philosophically: charity shops, inherited pieces from her grandmother, and printing offcuts all tie into her values of renewal, recycling, and honouring the past.
People are physically starving for analog connection. The moment participants put their phones down and work with their hands, real human connection — not just connectivity — takes over.
Starting with people she knew and slowly widening her audience has helped Sarah build confidence through accumulated reps, not overnight transformation.
Her collage practice has trained her to respond to life's situations rather than be absorbed by them — a profound shift in emotional resilience.
What Sarah offers her workshop participants is the exact safe, supported environment she desperately needed but never had growing up.

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com

"Modern heritage is about tension" (Mike Perry bonus episode) Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

A short bonus episode showcasing a few standout moments from this week's guest interview with Mike Perry (Tavern Agency) ~

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com

Dare to build a world, not just a brand - Mike Perry (Tavern Agency) Mar 02, 2026

Show notes

Mike Perry is the founder and chief creative officer of Tavern, a branding and packaging agency based in Brooklyn focused on food, beverage, hospitality, and sports. ~ With over 15 years cutting across NBC Sports, Hendricks Gin, Budweiser, TikTok, and beyond, Mike has developed a philosophy as richly layered as the brands he works on — one rooted in subculture, source material, and a relentless pursuit of what he calls "modern heritage."

In this episode, Radim and Mike explore what it truly means to build something timeless in an industry obsessed with trends. From his punk-poster origins to floating an inflatable pigeon down the Hudson River for New York City Football Club, Mike reveals how chaos, curiosity, and hospitality form the connective tissue of great brand work.

Key Takeaways:

Subculture is the source of all icons. You need the chaos of punk rock, the feral physicality of real-world experience, to fuel brand work that actually resonates, and Pinterest boards will never replace it.
Modern heritage is a philosophy built on tension. Holding heritage and modernity in productive conflict — never resolving it too neatly — is what creates brand work that lasts beyond the next trend cycle.
The MAYA principle (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) applies to branding as much as architecture. Push far enough to surprise, but stay grounded enough to be understood.
Designers are the true brand guardians. Brand managers rotate every two to three years; agencies stay for decades. That longevity is a responsibility, not just a relationship.
If you're chasing trends, you're already late. By the time an activation is built around a trend, the trend is usually over, leaving brands looking worse than if they'd never tried.
Brand worlds should become universes. The goal isn't a rebrand every two years. It's a platform so strong that every new person who touches it can only build outward, never backwards.
Three equities and a truth. Not trends. Find what the brand genuinely owns, ground it in something real, and build from there.

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com

"Change doesn't have to be a big, scary thing." (Catharine Pitt bonus episode) Feb 26, 2026

Show notes

A short bonus episode showcasing a few standout moments from this week's guest interview with Catharine Pitt ~

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com

Date to start again - Catharine Pitt (Form Play) Feb 23, 2026

Show notes

Catharine Pitt, co-founder of Brighton-based animation duo Form Play, joins the podcast to talk about what happens when you burn out, start over, and finally build something worth protecting. ~

Catharine and her partner Mark spent years running a full-service design studio doing ad campaigns and seasonal retail work — ticking every box and feeling none of it. In their mid-forties, they walked away. What followed was two years of gradual reinvention: evenings spent relearning, slowly phasing out old clients, and rediscovering the joy of drawing. They emerged with a hyper-focused studio specialising in 2D frame animation, character design, and short-form storytelling — working with brands like Google, Patreon, and Comedy Central, while building their reputation with growth-stage startups who are still finding their voice.

The conversation covers their creative manifesto, how COVID gave them the space to develop their micro-story framework, and why they use AI only as a "stress-testing knowledge base" — never for the creative work itself. Most compellingly, Catharine explains how they license rather than sell their characters, borrowing principles from the music and illustration industries to build longer-term client relationships and a more sustainable creative business.

Key Takeaways

The mid-forties crossroads is more common than you think – Catharine and Radim discover a shared experience: reaching the peak of what they'd worked for, and realising it wasn't who they wanted to be next
Burning out is data – A previous studio that depleted rather than fuelled them became the compass for everything Form Play stands for: client work must energise, not exhaust
Incremental change beats big leaps – Their transition took two years, running old and new in parallel, until the new was strong enough to stand alone
Play is the methodology, not just the name – Form Play's approach to creation — sketch, iterate, test, publish, move on — is how they stay resilient, stay fresh, and avoid creative paralysis
Micro stories have a formula – Start in the middle of the action; use humor, empathy, and surprise; condense time to exaggerate emotion. Their Instagram playground became their client framework
AI as untrusted advisor – They use AI to challenge assumptions and explore unfamiliar territory in business, but keep it entirely out of their visual creative process
Licensing changes everything – Influenced by the music and illustration industries, they separate creation fees from usage fees, giving clients flexibility and protecting the studio's long-term income
The risk of not changing – Rory Sutherland's overlooked point resonates here: staying the same carries its own risk; creative people need to stop treating change as the dangerous option
Distinction will be the premium – As AI floods the world with average output, work with imperfection, humanity, and emotional depth will become more valuable, not less

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com

"When someone puts your work in their home, it becomes part of their DNA." (Kelly Anna bonus episode) Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

A short bonus episode showcasing a few standout moments from this week's guest interview with Kelly Anna ~

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com

Dare to embrace the confidence rollercoaster - Kelly Anna Feb 16, 2026

Show notes

Kelly Anna is a London-based artist, illustrator and designer known for her vibrant, movement-driven work for brands including Nike, Adidas and Rapha.

In this episode, she traces the creative foundations behind her unmistakable style: a father who was both an artist and a Latin dance teacher, childhood sketchbooks filled with dancers at ballroom competitions, years of keeping break-dancing hidden from her art school peers, and a long, patient process of building a visual language entirely her own.

Kelly talks candidly about the emotional rollercoaster of freelance life, the relationship between personal work and commercial confidence, and why colour has always been her first language.

Takeaways

Confidence in freelance life is cyclical — the work is learning to accept that ride, not fight it
Returning to personal projects during slow periods is what restores creative confidence and generates new commercial work
Building a clear style within a niche (sport, movement, female empowerment) makes it easier for the right brands to find you
Saying no to misaligned work is a privilege you build toward — and it protects both your style and your energy
Trying new mediums (oils, charcoal, collage) isn't a distraction — it feeds back into your main practice in unexpected ways
Your biography is your aesthetic: Kelly's love of dance, movement and sport didn't disappear when she chose art — it became her entire visual language
Human connection remains irreplaceable — even in an AI era, the value of making something with another person, with all its surprises and happy mistakes, endures

Daring Forever. Podcast with Radim Malinic

daringcreativity.com | desk@daringcreativity.com