Truth Is Golden

Tiffany Pratt is a creative force of nature and in this interview, she peels back the curtain and lets us take a peek into here wild, crazy, colourful world. https://tiffanypratt.com About the podcast: The intent behind our podcast series "Truth Is Golden" is to look at renowned creatives and their work with a critical eye. We aim to ask deep questions in order to peel back the layers of m...

Lining up podcast guests can be quite the ordeal. Sometimes it literally take years before busy people accept an invitation, if they reply at all. Terry O'Reilly, arguably in high-demand was such a guest, his wife and producer, kept politely telling that it may or may not happen a number of times until I decided to give up. Low and behold, about 6 months after I threw in the towel, I received...

In this episode, I had the pleasure to talk to Stephen Shedletzky, Lead Igniter at Simon Sinek's Start With Why and one of the nicest, most genuine human being I have ever met. We talked about the importance of purpose, culture and of course, rock'n'roll. About the podcast: The intent behind our podcast series "Truth Is Golden" is to look at renowned creatives and their work wi...

I had the pleasure to interview Saša Radulovic, Johanna Hurme and Colin Neufeld, the partners at  5468796 Architecture as part of our Truth is Golden series. I was impressed to discover, in the course of my research for this interview and after talking to the 3 partners how approachable, genuine and friendly they were, on top of being some of the most innovative and creative architects alive today...

One founding half of GFDA and certified foulmouth, Jason Bacher is a talented designer, dedicated teacher and all-around decent human being. We talked about his humble beginnings selling wallpaper and how that eventually led him to found Good Fucking Design Advice with his long-time friend Brian Buirge. We also talked about failure, the strangeness of moving to new cities, firing your mother twice...

This interview was initially published in July 2019. New-York-based, RISD-trained Canuck designer Theo Richardson spoke about his upbringing, creativity and the future of design. A genuinely nice and thoughtful guy, Theo revealed some of the secrets that led him to have such a successful career at a relatively young age. Listen in to hear more about his life and philosophy. About the podcast:   Th...

This interview was initially published in May 2019. Liam Gadsby is a veteran comic and all around creative force living and performing in Toronto. I met Liam one day at the local café and his larger-than-life personality is what drew me to him. Upon befriending him, I learned that he was an unstoppable creative force and came to appreciate being around him for a good laugh. He’s comfortable with t...

In January 2019, I participated in a panel at the Interior Design Show (IDS) in Toronto. We discussed the nature of media in the representation in architecture and what representing architecture in this day and age means. This recording was our conversation. The panel was comprised of Peter Sobchak, Editor at Canadian Interiors and Moderator, Amanda Large, co-founder at Doublespace Photography, Ba...

This interview was initially published in February 2019. Fraser Greenberg and I spoke at length about his Toronto upbringing, how he stumbled into family business and transformed it to thrive an ever-changing market as well as his latest endeavour, the coffee shop Milky’s in Toronto’s West End. What struck me about Fraser is the consistency with which he bring passion, purpose and an amazing sense...

This interview was initially published in January 2019. In Episode 16, I had a fascinating conversation with Toon Dreessen, principal at Architects DCA in Ottawa and past president of the Ontario Association of Architects. During our conversation, Toon spoke about his upbringing in the Netherlands, his early life and how that influenced his very early decision to become an architect around age 10,...

This interview was initially published in December 2018. In Episode 209, I spoke with Polish-born designer and architect Jan Lorenc, principal of Lorenc Design , a leading experiential design firm based out of Atlanta. Jan spoke about his upbringing in communist Poland and his subsequent move to the US at age eight, when the weight of communist policies and constant shortages of basic goods became...

Aussie architect and internet entrepreneur Nic Granleese, did his interview with us during his last visit in Toronto. He talked about his shoeless upbringing in rural Australia and how during a sabbatical early on in his career, he decided to hop on his motorcycle, quit architecture and become a photographer. Subsequently, his path led him to create bowerbird, a growing online platform that links...

For the last episode of our series on LA creatives, I interviewed Frances Anderton, host of the NPR radio show Design and Architecture on the Los Angeles radio station KCRW. Frances talked about her upbringing in the UK, her early aspirations to be an architect, how she fell in love with broadcasting and Los Angeles in the early 90’s, as well as living in a Frank Gehry-designed 1960’s apartment bu...

In episode 206, the third instalment in our series on LA creatives, Paul Petrunia talked about his upbringing in the Canadian prairies, how Arthur Erickson influenced him to be an architect, his ill-fated career as a teen ballet dancer and his cultural confusion as an expat torn between American and Canadian cultures. Going back to the early Internet days when he started a dot-com business in the...

Dan Brunn’s early life in Tel Aviv, subsequent move with his family to Southern California at age 7 and his later nomadic lifestyle as an adult certainly did not make his life easy, yet set the stage for a highly creative and driven character to develop. Someone as uncompromising as he is a kind soul who wants to do good in the world. Dan is a young(ish) architect based out of LA creating building...

In episode 10, I interviewed veteran architect and globe-trotter Steven Ehrlich, founder and principal at EYRC, a Los Angeles based architecture studio working under the tenet of "Multicultural Modernism". Steven talked about his formative years on the east coast, his early career in Africa as a member of the peace corps, creativity and the challenges and inspiration that come with running...

In episode 9, I talked to David K. Levine a distinguished academic, political economist and popular author. We talked about his midwestern childhood, how economics can explain a lot of modern society challenges, his transplant life in Europe and how one of the biggest risks he took was a late-career change, taking on subjects he was not an expert in. Listen in to hear more about David and his acco...

In episode 8, Stefan Hunt, recounted his -short- life story, from a typical western childhood in New South Wales, Australia, to his early foray into film making, crossing the US at 18 with no money, a bieber haircut and a drive to surf all 48 states, including the 20+ landlocked ones. His first film, self-described as “cringeworthy”, got him some attention and eventually led him to become the mult...

In our first episode of season 2, John Dewolf , Vice President at Form : Media walks us through his youth in the Canadian Maritimes, his early career as a graphic designer before he realized, while working on a software to help people save for retirement and later on the redesign of the US census forms, the power of design to positively influence people’s lives. We also talked creativity, his desi...

Nothing in her early life foreshadowed  Jaime Derringer ’s rise as a champion of contemporary design, through the development of her wildly successful design blog  Design Milk  and its sister sites,  Dog Milk  and  Adorn Milk . A passion project if there is one, she turned - one step at a time - her love of contemporary design, architecture and beautiful things into a career that took her to place...

Architect Matthew Rosenberg grew up in Saskatoon in an environment that did not predestine him to become the daring creative force he is today. A quiet suburban life and (admittedly overly) caring jewish family was more likely to be conducive to a humdrum suburban life. Attending the march of the living in Israel and Poland in his teens, awakened in him the desire to aspire to bigger and better th...

Ian French - a.k.a.  IF the poet  had a troubled youth. He rebelled against authority, did drugs and got into all kinds of trouble. Before his antics caught up to him, he started a business with his brother in his 20’s. They would go on to build one of the most successful and largest direct marketing agencies in the country. Not being one to fall asleep on his laurels, IF discovered slam poetry by...

In this episode, we had the immense pleasure to interview  Murray Legge , FAIA, an architect and Toronto native working in Austin, TX. Murray discussed his boundless creativity, the influence of growing up in Toronto, how is architecture is influenced by filmmaking and his love for Louis Kahn and Sigurd Lewerentz. Get on board for a journey through Murray’s creative mind to discover what makes him...

In this episode, David Bowick, principal at Blackwell talks to us about his beginnings as a structural engineer, his sources of inspiration, Peter Rice and his most challenging project to date, the Canada’s Diversity Gardens at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg. Listen in to hear the secret sauce behind one of Canada's most innovative structural engineering firms. About the podcast: The intent behi...

In the first episode, I interviewed Joe Prendergast, VP of sales at Muzo , a band of rockers from the UK who decided 15 or so years ago to disrupt the office furniture market. Not only their products are cool, but they are really well designed with the end-user in mind. What makes them unique? Their love for music and endless creativity when it comes to promoting themselves guerilla-style. Listen...