Daring Creativity

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 Creativity. Podcast with Radim Malinic
daringcreativity.com | [email protected]
Books by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFc
Free audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobook
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A short bonus episode showcasing a few standout moments from this week's guest interview with Sarah Ellen Masters ~
Daring Creativity. Podcast with Radim Malinic
daringcreativity.com | [email protected]
Books by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFc
Free audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobook
Book bundles https://novemberuniverse.co.uk

Lux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/ (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)
November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)

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 Creativity. Podcast with Radim Malinic
daringcreativity.com | [email protected]
Books by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFc
Free audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobook
Book bundles https://novemberuniverse.co.uk

Lux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/ (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)
November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)

A short bonus episode showcasing a few standout moments from this week's guest interview with Mike Perry (Tavern Agency) ~
Daring Creativity. Podcast with Radim Malinic
daringcreativity.com | [email protected]
Books by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFc
Free audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobook
Book bundles https://novemberuniverse.co.uk

Lux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/ (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)
November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)

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 Creativity. Podcast with Radim Malinic
daringcreativity.com | [email protected]
Books by Radim Malinic Paperback and Kindle > https://amzn.to/4biTwFc
Free audiobook (with Audible trial) > https://geni.us/free-audiobook
Book bundles https://novemberuniverse.co.uk

Lux Coffee Co. https://luxcoffee.co.uk/ (Use: PODCAST for 15% off)
November Universe https://novemberuniverse.co.uk (Use: PODCAST for 10% off)