(UN)LEARN

What happens when design stops being about creating objects and becomes a way to understand the world? Ollie Knight and Rory McGrath, founders of the independent design practice OK-RM, join us to reflect on an 18-year journey driven by intuition over logic and predefined answers. We explore the space between instinct and structure, the importance of allowing ideas to evolve without over-defining them, and why the most profound creative work often begins without a name or a fixed form. Together, we examine what it means to question convention, reconnect with innate intuition, and cultivate a creative practice that is fluid, evolving, and deeply human.Ollie Knight and Rory McGrath are the founders of OK-RM, an independent design practice working across visual identity, publishing, art, research, and cultural initiatives. Their practice centers on deep collaboration, intuitive process, and building meaningful relationships between people, ideas, and spatial environments.

Who are you when no one is watching? Rajdeep, Ameet and Simran sit down for a raw, relatable conversation about what it truly means to live authentically. They reflect on their university years, the pressure to please others, and the heavy burden of wearing different masks at work, with family, and across curated social media profiles.
Highlighting the striking disconnect between desire and reality—where 97% of people believe authenticity breeds happiness, yet only 16% feel they can be themselves at work—the team explores how to adapt your delivery without compromising your core integrity. They discuss how our default qualities of compassion, patience, and honesty become clouded over time by a busy and noisy mind, and how the practical application of Simran helps strip away those layers to reconnect with who we truly are. The episode leaves us with a compelling question for daily life: when you walk out of a room, what fragrance do you leave behind?

What gets in the way of truly hearing the world around us? In the final episode of our New York series, recorded ahead of their Total Response performance, devotional musician and composer Surya Botofasina joins Deep and nep to explore the profound spiritual discipline of listening. Surya reflects on how our own rigid expectations often block us from answering the call of the present moment. He shares his personal relationship with the lineage of chords and music—a gift he believes must be passed on with purely altruistic intentions. Deep introduces the concept of the "Unstruck Melody" that exists within everyone. By quietening external noise and shifting into a state of deep listening, we can return to our default natural state of compassion, kindness, and fearlessness. They close by redefining success as living in absolute, human-to-human integrity, exploring how true love transcends fleeting emotional feelings to become an undeniable, internal knowing. Surya Botofasina is an acclaimed pianist, composer, and keyboardist whose artistry is deeply rooted in the spiritual jazz tradition. His practice treats music not merely as a performance, but as a communal, meditative, and healing tool for collective elevation.

How do we find true freedom when we are simply too tired to carry the weight of our own thoughts? Ahead of their Total Response performance in New York, critically acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid and artist Nirbhai nep Sidhu join Deep for an unfiltered exploration of music, memory, and endurance. Angel shares nostalgic reflections on her childhood parlour room and how watching Amadeus sparked a hidden, lifelong obsession with classical music. We discuss art and music as essential portals that allow us to explore beyond.

Shifting to the "Battlefield of the Mind," Angel opens up with raw honesty about the physical and emotional exhaustion of carrying heavy burdens, opening the door for Deep to share a transformative perspective on how to access genuine inner freedom. Finally, we dive into the transformative power of repetition and discipline, proving that rigorous practice is not a constraint, but the ultimate tool for personal growth and self-mastery.

Angel Bat Dawid is a phenomenal Chicago-based composer, clarinetist, singer, and educator whose radical, genre-defying work interacts deeply with memory, spirituality, and the rich lineage of Black jazz avant-garde. nep Sidhu is an interdisciplinary practitioner whose work explores the metaphysics of form and spatial rhythm within community. Together, they embody a courageous commitment to the constant evolution of the self and the spirit.

What keeps you on the path when the world tries to pull you away? Ahead of their TOTAL RESPONSE performance in New York, artist Nirbhai (nep) Singh Sidhu and legendary musician Ishmael Butler join Deep K Kailey to explore the "compulsion" that drives the seeker. They discuss the bravery required to evolve your art in a world that demands consistency, and the fascinating challenge of naming the "unnamed"—the realisation that by the time an artwork is defined, the creator has already moved on to the next.
 
Ishmael Butler is a Grammy-winning musician and pioneer (Digable Planets, Shabazz Palaces), celebrated for his experimental approach to sonic architecture. nep Sidhu is an interdisciplinary practitioner whose work explores the metaphysics of form and spatial rhythm within community. Together, they embody a courageous commitment to the constant evolution of the self and the spirit.