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Daring Creativity
"Don't ride the highs too high or the lows too low" (Luke Carson bonus episode)
00:12:56
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Transcript9 lines
- [00:01]
A
Hey, welcome to another bonus episode of the Daring Creativity Podcast. This is episode number 23 of the series and as you might know, I'm here to unpack some of the gems from this week's conversation, pulling out those moments that deserve a second look and digging deeper in what's making them special. I'm always on the lookout for the moments and ideas that hit differently. This week I spoke to Luke Carlson about his life career as a creative producer and a brand strategist who represents his father, legendary graphic designer David Carson, while forging his own path at the intersection of design, sport and culture. This episode, published a few days ago, was titled Dare to Find Beauty in the Struggle has given me chance to find out how Luke being a cancer survivor, gave him a totally different outlook on life and showed him a way towards the life and career he has to today. If you haven't checked out a full interview yet, let me start with these four moments that stood out from our conversation.
- [01:01]
B
And to see that and to look in the mirror at 18, 19, oh my gosh, you don't wish that upon anyone. And so I did find myself losing my grip even when the sights or I guess the goals were near and clear in terms of my cancer cure date was around the corner, which later became May 1, 2017, after five rounds of chemo and 21 days of radiation. But even with that site in mind, it became obviously a very daunting experience once I had a little bit time on my hands to just take a step back. And so one of the things that I did was that I worked with a tutor and improved my college testing scores in order to get into Dream University. And I improved my score by over 400 points, which then ultimately got me into my dream film school. As I mentioned a bit earlier, the third in the country, just behind NYU and usc, found some beauty in the struggle, which has absolutely been a consistent life lesson to this day is if you're still chugging, you're still there's still life to be had. There's something there for you.
- [02:04]
A
As you may expect from someone being a David Carson son. We did cover some of the work they do as a father son production duo, shall we say. But I had to have to be honest, I found a lot more interesting facts in Luke's battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was just well before he just turned 19. And it was a story that evince fared the title of this episode there to find beauty in the Struggle, because what was fascinating to find out how this experience has defined Luke's choices and approach to life. Because he didn't surrender to the darkness at that moment when he felt the most illest. He also worked with a tutor on improving his college scores by nearly 400 points and ultimately gaining him admission to his dream film school at Chapman University. And it's hard to imagine for anyone who didn't have to go through such traumatic and life altering experience that we would be looking forward ahead. This is why I find this perspective remarkable in its practicality. Luke didn't romanticise suffering or suggesting that hardship is valuable in itself. It's rather that he discovered that even in the bleakest moments, progress happens in increments. Those small wins they compound. And a single study session, one more completed assignment. These were micro victories that created momentum for him with the larger goal, survival itself, which felt overwhelming. But a mindset that permeates in his creative work, Whether it's now curating the complex brand partnerships or pushing through a challenging collaboration. Luke applies the same focus on what's immediately in front of you. Trust the process and believe something meaningful exists on the other side of difficulty.
- [04:09]
B
So that's what I was gonna say is to that point I know what it's like to be on a ticking time bomb, if you will, where you don't know what's next, you don't know if you're gonna make it through, you don't know how you're gonna react, some specific round of chemo. And so I like to keep the gas on the pedal. I have friends to this day saying sometimes you need to chill a little bit. Well, I'm a drinking problem, I don't do drugs, love experiences, so I'm very active. I like to think I live 10 lives in a Saturday in New York City because I really do. I'll be upstate at an architecture park slash art museum and then I'll make it back down and still go to a friend's gallery opening and then still go out for a dinner with friends and maybe see a jazz show or a DJ set and boom, 12, 14 hour day, 16 hour day and still get my eight hours of sleep and then do it again the next day.
- [04:57]
A
The second part of our conversation about Luke's approach to life. It's very much on living endless energy now and having that real zest for life and taking in every single moment. His willingness to extend trips by weeks when they feel right. His ability to live 10 lives in a Saturday between upstate architecture museum, gallery openings and late night jazz show. It's not the recklessness or escapism, but it's the purposeful urgency of someone who has genuinely confronted mortality. So coming back to those moments where Luke watched himself deteriorate during chemotherapy, when he was pale and bold and fighting for survival at 19, he gained that perspective most people his age never require. Time isn't infinite, energy isn't guaranteed. And that the opportunity to travel, shoot film, photography, or play basketball at various places, these are the substances of life fully lived. And this philosophy also informs his creative career. He didn't wait for the perfect moment to approach his father about representation. He didn't spend years climbing traditional agency ladders. He trusted his instincts, built relationships and moved quickly when opportunities aligned. His friends tell him to chill, but Lug knows something they don't. The privilege of tomorrow isn't promised. So today demands your full attention.
- [06:20]
B
The way I am, the way I think, what attracts me, what doesn't attract me. A big thing that he always teaches is trusting your intuition, your gut. He never had schooling. There were no rules to break. It just was what made sense to him and communicated. And you know, as you know, it came with a lot of hate mail in the early days. It came with a lot of what is this crap? But he never, never second guessed himself. And I think that's an approach that I've always found useful for my life, is trusting my gut. Take that risky trip to Vietnam without knowing where you're going. Buy those jeans that you found in Japan even though they're a little out of budget because you really believe in the brand and the person making them. Those are smaller decisions. But again, that intuition aspect, of course.
- [07:04]
A
We talked about how he works with his dad, David Carlson, on creating work that challenges various aspects, brand collaborations and brand partnerships. But it all stems from David Carson's steel, like intuition. And what Louis was referring to throughout his conversation, that what we now know about David Carlson's career, that his rebel like approach to creativity and graphic design is very unique and it's not always for everyone. And to hear about the fact that you stick with that intuition, you keep at it, you gain people who are for you and people who are against you. And is that trust and instinct and intuition that is in Luke's, Carson's DNA too, in this moment of the conversation, like he talks about the fact that this lesson in intuition manifests itself differently but equally powerful. And Luke suggested to me that the work that David was doing and still doing is kind of trust in instinct over formal training is going to places where others might not want to go. And when him and David are working on the new partnerships, being with Stussy or Rafa or other places, it's always informed by lived experiences, cultural emotion and genuine curiosity. Because those still outperform formulaic approaches. He chooses brands based on fields, not spreadsheets. He documents his life with film cameras that might fail, rather than perfect digital captures. In an age where creative decisions are often committee approved and market tested, Luke's willingness to trust his gut represents a form of a rebellion. As significant as his father's typographic innovations, it's a proof that a Carlson's legacy isn't about specific design techniques. It's about a courage to follow your instinct, even when others can't see what.
- [09:05]
B
You see day in, day out. I'm always going into my own recollection of brands that I admire, moments in time, stores that have impacted me. The Rafa clubhouse in New York always stood out to me because I grew up around the corner. It's been around, I believe, for about almost 10 years now, if not a little longer. I think first and foremost it was culturally, is this a good fit? Are the people that I'm talking with and building a rapport with, do they feel like people that get him? Because if it's a forced collaboration, and again, it's just a brand and brand moment that's going to be communicated even in the final product, people are going to feel that this was a bit more of a clip of clickbait moment than it is an actual story. And I think from the get go, they really wanted to understand his ethos, his approach. There were specific guidelines because it was a very specific collaboration. It was to celebrate their 10 years of Rafa Cycling Club. And so there were parameters that came with that. But he loves those challenges because in a lot of cases people just perceive him as like a throw everything at the pallet, take it or leave it.
- [10:08]
A
As a keen cyclist, I wanted to know what I could know about a collaboration that Rafa and David Carson produced and released not that long ago. And it's something to treasure, that these collaborations happen, that people are actually willing to pursue, even be it famous names or just pursue creativity, for a partnership to push what the status quo is right now, because that collaboration succeed, to make sure that David Carson's DNA, creative DNA is seen and felt throughout the collaboration, rather than, as Luke says, that sometimes he's quite disappointed and sad that big collaborations with big brands and big influences or creatives are merely just a sort of exercise on sort of sitting side by side on the billboard rather than really pushing what could be possible. From the conversation, I've learned that David Carson very much got into the mindset of Rafa through visiting the Mallorca clubhouse, advised a bit on a different project in Mallorca and this collaboration just shows how just a little touch of great sort of personality and great visionary design work can actually elevate something which can feel it stale, bit predictable and how does it breathe the new lease of life. So the disruptive Carson's aesthetic really matters because it helps them to operate. In an era where brand collaborations have become formulaic. The insistence of genuine creative connection over commercial convenience really achieves something of super high standards and of incredible aesthetic. So Luke's protecting his father's legacy while proving that authentic storytelling still resonates more powerfully than algorithmic partnership designed purely for social media management. Thank you for joining me on this episode. If you haven't checked out a full episode with Luke Carson, I'd like to encourage you to do so. And thank you for being here and I'll catch you on the next one. If you enjoyed this episode and would like more accessible resources to help you discover your daring creative you can pick up one of my books on themes of mindful creativity, creative business, branding, and graphic design. Every physical book purchase comes with a free digital bundle, including an ebook and audiobook to make the content accessible wherever you are and whatever you do. To get 10% of your order, visit novemberuniverse.co.uk and use the Code podcast. Have a look around and start living daringly.