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Highlights from The Leap 100 Founders Panel & Jazz Shapers Live Session: inspiring creativity

Posted on 26 March 2018

Leap founders Edwina Dunn of Starcount; Cécile Reinaud of Séraphine; James Lohan, MBE of Mr & Mrs Smith; and Alex Klein of Kano discuss the power of creativity in business. 

Edwina Dunn
Tonight’s event is important because there are people here who are introducing new concepts of how to do business and when you meet people like that you learn something new.

James Lohan MBE
Creativity is hugely important because the whole idea of a company, the whole strategy of a company stems from that initial creative idea, that spark, that bit of imagination.

Elliot Moss
I am guessing all of you are pretty passionate about what you do.  Is there an inextricable link between passion and creativity?

Edwina Dunn
Oh unquestionably.  I just don’t think you stay the distance if you are not passionate.

James Lohan MBE
If you have a great idea and you live with it for a while and it just grows as an idea, that feeling and everyone that’s collaborating or you are talking to just feels there is something there.  I think that’s really important.

Cécile Reinaud
A really interesting mix of people on the Panel tonight.  Everyone bringing a different nugget of knowledge and thinking how to be creative, think outside the box.

Alex Klein
Around the world people are growing increasingly hungry for new approaches, new ways of understanding the world around them.

Elliot Moss
How do you separate the winning ideas from the losing ideas?

Cécile Reinaud
I think you have to very much trust your guts.

Alex Klein
The worst products in the world are made by really smart people standing around white boards in cool offices, free snacks… sort of nodding their heads vigorously.

Edwina Dunn
I’ve always been interested in the art of the possible and pushing the boundaries of what you can do.

Alex Klein
Every time you have to re-mould yourself to a new challenge you become more elastic and so adaptation has never been a greater strength.

Daniel Wilkinson
The Panel was really insightful and I thought the different types of people on the Panel were really interesting.

Punam Tiwari
They were very honest, very gritty but at the same time they were inspiring.

Elliot Moss
I am really pleased to say my Business Shaper today is none other than the artist, the sculpture, the fashion designer, the fashion icon that is Nicole Farhi.  We will also have live music for this special edition of Jazz Shapers, the one and only, all the way from America, it’s Judie Jackson.

I want to talk about fashion obviously to start with.

Nicole Farhi
Okay.

Elliot Moss
Tell me about…

Nicole Farhi
I like talking about my family because…

Elliot Moss
You can see who is in charge here it’s very straight…  you can talk about whatever you like.

Nicole Farhi
But my family, my family, my aunts and my… the women in my family, the Turkish women were very, very chic and perhaps that helped me wanting to be a fashion designer. 

Elliot Moss
What do you think you would have done if it hadn’t have been fashion?

Nicole Farhi
I like the idea of you do something and six months later you do something else.  You never get bored with what you are doing because you are always on the move to something else.

Elliot Moss
You talk about being a creative person, an artist and that started very young.  Just tell me a little bit about how you had the self-confidence or you were convinced that you could be a sculptress?

Nicole Farhi
I knew that fashion was not enough for me. I met somebody who was a sculpture. When she said she was a sculpture I thought ‘ah but that’s what I want to be’.

Elliot Moss
Have you felt that freedom that you craved do you think?  I mean as in you now have it all the time when you are there in your studio?

Nicole Farhi
Oh yes I just love… I am very, very lucky to be able to do it all the time.

Elliot Moss
So Judie what strikes me about creative people is that they all crave freedom?
 
Judie Jackson
I believe that freedom is key to being creative, to fluidity, to honesty and if you are not honest with yourself then your work cannot be as honest.

Elliot Moss
Nicole it’s been fantastic to talk to you.

Nicole Farhi
Thank you.

Elliot Moss
That’s it for our first Jazz Shapers Live of 2018.  I’d like to thank Judie and band and thank you also to all of you, our special live studio audience.

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