Unorthodox Blend Conversations

Rosie Lee Group
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An unorthodox blend of disciplines and undisciplines. This is how we used to talk about Rosie Lee. In all honesty, we don’t fully know what it means but I think that's why we love it so much. unorthodoxblend.substack.com

  1. Jun 17

    UBC059 Dave White

    Dave White is a Devon-based painter whose work is rooted in deep personal connection - whether to sneakers, popular culture, or the wildlife that now forms the central focus of his practice. After studying fine art, Dave became closely associated with the early days of sneaker culture, creating paintings that helped translate the emotional and cultural power of footwear into a fine art context. Over time, his work has moved back towards the natural world, with the last fifteen years focused on capturing the beauty, character, and scarcity of the animals we share the planet with. Octopus III (You are Beautiful) by Dave White, Oil on linen 42” x 57” — Our conversation follows Dave’s journey from fine art into streetwear and sneaker culture and then back towards a more nature-led artistic practice. He reflects on how his sneaker paintings emerged not from a commercial plan, but from genuine love and attention - beginning with an Air Max 95, a chance opportunity in Liverpool and a Creative Review cover that helped set things in motion. From there, the discussion opens into a wider reflection on culture, scarcity and memory. Dave, Russell and Mark talk about the early days of sneaker releases, when queues, local shops and shared rituals created a sense of community that feels harder to find in today’s more digitised, frictionless culture. The conversation then moves into Dave’s wildlife work, the importance of slowing down, the emotional pull of nature and the role of human experience in creativity - especially at a time when AI is changing how images and ideas are made. — What feels strongest in this conversation is Dave’s relationship with attention. Whether he is talking about sneakers, animals, music or painting, the thread running through it all is care: the care that comes from looking properly, remembering where something came from and staying close to the things that genuinely move you. There is also something quietly valuable in the way Dave talks about opportunity. His career does not come across as a perfectly mapped route, but as a series of moments he was open enough to notice and brave enough to follow. That resonates deeply with us and feels very true to many creative lives: a mix of instinct, timing, obsession, friendship and work. At its heart, this conversation is about staying connected, staying present to culture, nature, memory and to the slower, more human parts of creativity that are easy to lose when everything becomes faster, easier and more disposable. Get full access to Unorthodox Blend at unorthodoxblend.substack.com/subscribe

    58 min

  2. Jun 3

    UBC058 Scott Denton-Cardew

    Scott Denton-Cardew is the founder of Denton-Cardew Design, a Los Angeles-based creative consultancy he started in 2008 after several years working at Nike in Portland. Across his career, Scott has worked across design, creative direction, brand, retail, motion, photography and creative leadership - building the kind of wide-ranging experience that rarely fits neatly into a single job title. In the conversation, he describes himself less as one fixed thing and more as a “conductor of design and talent”, bringing together people, ideas, instinct and experience to make the work stronger. — Our conversation begins with a question that sounds simple but opens up something much bigger: what do creative job titles really mean anymore? From there, Scott reflects on the shifting language of creative roles, the value of being hard to categorise and the way experience across different disciplines can make someone more adaptable, more resilient and harder to replace. The discussion moves through early influences, magazine design, Nike, Ferrari, creative risk, online critique and the emotional power of design - especially in the way objects, spaces and brand experiences can connect with people in ways that are difficult to explain but easy to feel. Our conversation is also about longevity in creative work: how to stay curious, how to lead with compassion and how to keep finding meaning in the work after decades in the industry. — What stands out in this conversation is Scott’s resistance to being over-simplified, despite knowing that it might make life easier in some ways. In an industry that often wants people to be immediately legible - a title, a specialism, a neat box on a hiring form - Scott makes a strong case for the value of irregularity. The interesting people are often the ones with unusual edges: the ones who have crossed disciplines, taken odd routes, learned by doing and picked up the kind of judgement that only comes from lived experience. There is also something quietly generous in how Scott talks about creativity. He is interested in ideas, craft, emotion and brand authenticity, but also in the people behind the work - how they are led, supported, challenged and trusted. That gives the conversation a warmth beyond the usual design-industry language of innovation or excellence. At its heart, this is a conversation about the humanity in our work: how sometimes the most valuable people are not the easiest to define, and why creative careers do not need to be linear to be powerful. Get full access to Unorthodox Blend at unorthodoxblend.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 15m

  3. May 20

    UBC057 - Mara Dettmann

    Mara Dettmann is an advertising and marketing strategist with a focus on cultural marketing, technology and the ways people use emerging tools to connect with one another. Her work sits in the space between digital innovation and human behaviour, looking beyond the technology itself to understand how it shapes culture, identity, work and the stories people tell about themselves. — This conversation explores the evolving relationship between technology, culture and human connection. Mara reflects on the future of work, the rise of AI, the changing shape of creative careers, and the kinds of human skills that may become more valuable as automation becomes more capable. The discussion moves from gig work and the “weird job economy” to the value of friction, imperfection, and difficulty in our lives. Alongside this, there’s a broader reflection on storytelling, optimisation culture, control, and the ways people try to find stability and individuality in a world that often feels increasingly chaotic. — What makes this conversation compelling is that it avoids treating technology as either utopian or catastrophic. Instead, it focuses on the behaviours forming around it - the ways people seek control, optimise themselves, simplify complexity and increasingly try to remove friction from everyday life. But throughout the discussion there’s a recurring question underneath all of that: what do we lose when everything becomes too efficient? Whether discussing AI, fitness culture, automation or storytelling, we kept returning to the idea that discomfort, unpredictability and even inconvenience are often the things that make experiences memorable, human and meaningful. Rather than resisting technology outright, Mara approaches it as something that reveals human nature more clearly - our anxieties, ambitions, contradictions and desire for connection. Get full access to Unorthodox Blend at unorthodoxblend.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 3m

  4. May 6

    UBC056 - Ben Rayner

    Ben Rayner is a photographer and director known for capturing the raw, emotional reality of people and culture. Originally from London and now based in New York, his work spans sport, music and lifestyle - always centred around human connection rather than surface-level image making. His approach prioritises feeling over perfection, seeking out the in-between moments where authenticity, energy and personality naturally reveal themselves. — This conversation explores the craft of capturing emotion and the subtle, often invisible processes behind it. Ben shares how his work has evolved over time, from instinctively shooting moments as they unfold to deliberately creating environments where spontaneity can happen. The discussion touches on the impact of COVID on creative relationships, the role of AI in image-making and the growing importance of human connection in an increasingly automated world. Alongside this, there’s a deeper reflection on process from reading people in real time, embracing imperfection, and understanding that the most powerful work often happens between the planned shots rather than within them. — What comes through is a quiet confidence in human instinct over control. Ben’s work is about creating the conditions for something real to happen and being present enough to recognise it when it does. In a moment where technology is accelerating rapidly, that idea feels increasingly important. There’s a sense that the future of creativity won’t be defined by precision, but by the ability to capture something that feels unmistakably human. Get full access to Unorthodox Blend at unorthodoxblend.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 6m

  5. Apr 22

    UBC055 - Miguel Carrillo

    Miguel Carrillo is a global brand and DTC marketing leader whose career has taken him through Converse, Nike and a range of culturally driven brand-building roles. He has worked across markets, categories and communities, helping brands grow while staying close to the people they serve. He brings a strong mix of strategic thinking, commercial understanding and cultural sensitivity, with a clear interest in how brands connect more meaningfully with the world around them. — This conversation explored the balance between scale and authenticity. We spoke about DTC and wholesale, about how brands build emotional connection, and about the challenge of growing without losing clarity about who you are and who you are for. A strong thread throughout was community. Miguel talked about the difference between brands chasing culture and brands fuelling it, and why the strongest connections are often built by serving real communities rather than trying to speak to everyone at once. We also touched on the shift from purely digital brand-building towards more physical, local and human forms of engagement. — What we took from this conversation was the importance of clarity within a brand’s core and its team. Miguel kept returning to the idea that brands need to know themselves properly, and that felt really aligned to. our approach to branding. Not every brand needs to be everywhere, say everything, or follow every shift in culture. In fact doing less, but doing it with more conviction, is often what makes a brand matter to people. We also liked the way the conversation framed community as something earned rather than declared. It is easy for brands to use the language of belonging, but much harder to build something that people genuinely want to be part of. The discussion around culture, consistency and long-term trust landed well because it moved beyond surface-level marketing language and into something more grounded. There was also a useful tension between digital and physical space. As online environments become noisier and harder to trust, the value of real-world connection feels more important again - for people and for brands. That doesn’t mean abandoning digital, but it does mean brands may need to work harder to create experiences and relationships that feel tangible, human and lasting. Get full access to Unorthodox Blend at unorthodoxblend.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 11m

  6. Apr 8

    UBC054 - Luca Ballarini

    Luca Ballarini is a designer, editor, publisher and place-maker based in Turin. His career has moved across architecture, magazine publishing, studio practice and urban thinking, but what connects it all is a clear curiosity about how design shapes culture, experience and everyday life. What we liked straight away is that Luca doesn’t talk about creativity as a narrow discipline. He sees it as something broader, more connected and more responsible than that. — This was a conversation about how creative lives evolve, and how one discipline often leads unexpectedly into another. Luca reflected on the role magazine publishing played in shaping his thinking, not just visually, but intellectually - as a way of choosing, framing and taking responsibility for ideas. We also spoke about music, independent culture, studios, cities and place-making, and how all of these worlds can inform one another. A strong theme throughout was authenticity: the belief that design should be truthful, useful and rooted in real human experience, rather than simply polished on the surface. — What stayed with us most was Luca’s warmth. He’s clearly thoughtful and highly creative, but there’s no performance in it. He has a very human way of talking about design, cities and culture, and you get the sense that whatever he turns his attention to, he is looking for genuine meaning, not just output. We also loved hearing about the early part of his career, where he simply went off and visited studios and magazines he admired, knocking on doors and following his curiosity. There’s something really pure in that approach - no overthinking, no waiting for permission - he just had a genuine desire to learn, to understand how other creative people worked and to place himself close to the things that inspired him. That spirit still seems present in how he works now. Across publishing, design and place-making, there is a clear thread of intention running through it all. He isn’t collecting disciplines for the sake of it; he seems to be searching for substance, connection and a meaningful relationship between his creativity and the world around him. Get full access to Unorthodox Blend at unorthodoxblend.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 9m

  7. Mar 19

    UBC053 - Jo Taylor

    Jo Taylor is a strategist and cultural operator working at the intersection of sport, fashion, culture and storytelling. Over a 17-year career at Nike, she helped shape how the brand connects performance with culture - from global campaigns and Olympic moments to pioneering work in women’s sport, collaboration and community. Now leading her own venture, Glow Inc, Jo continues that work by helping brands, institutions, and creatives rethink how sport can expand into new audiences, new expressions and new cultural relevance. — Our conversation explores how sport has evolved from a performance-led discipline into a broader cultural platform - one shaped as much by identity, storytelling and self-expression as by results. Jo reflects on her time at Nike during a period of rapid change, where ideas were prioritised over functions and where sport began to merge more visibly with fashion, creativity and community. From athlete identity and the role of femininity in performance, to the future of collaboration, British fashion and global cultural ecosystems, we talked about past experiences and future possibilities - particularly around how new audiences, especially women, will reshape what sport looks and feels like in the years ahead. — What stood out for us is Jo’s consistent focus on expansion over comparison, asking what becomes possible when you widen the frame. There’s a clarity in how she approaches ideas: start with the future you want to create, define the space and then find the right partners to build it - rather than beginning with names or surface-level collaboration. For us it was a reminder that the most interesting work doesn’t come from reacting to culture, but from actively shaping where it goes next. Get full access to Unorthodox Blend at unorthodoxblend.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 5m

  8. Mar 4

    UBC052 - Mike Cherman

    Get full access to Unorthodox Blend at unorthodoxblend.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 4m
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An unorthodox blend of disciplines and undisciplines. This is how we used to talk about Rosie Lee. In all honesty, we don’t fully know what it means but I think that's why we love it so much. unorthodoxblend.substack.com

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