Weekly Highlights
Highlight from this weeks articles, conversations and creative inspirations from Rosie Lee and our community. Opening the lid on topics, news and inspirations that affect our thinking and our work.
This week we recorded a conversation with Mike Cherman which is lined up for release next week. Mike is someone we’ve known for some time and we’re really pleased he could join us and share some of his journey and insights. Mark managed to catch up with some of our friends and collaborators during London Fashion Week. It’s always good to be around that energy and everything moving across the city, especially seeing Foday go from strength to strength.
We reconnected with Josh in New York for his Q&A, which was lovely, and it has been enjoyable looking back on some of those New York memories.
Oh and happy Pokémon Day everyone!
More highlights below.
Unorthodox Blend
UBA133 - Your feelings don’t care about your facts
In creative reviews and strategy sessions someone might sense that an idea just doesn’t feel right, yet it’s still rare to hear someone admit it without a logical rationale.
Mark (our creative director) is dyslexic and in the creative world it is common to work with neurodiverse teams, so he understands instinct for what it is: fast pattern recognition built from experience, emotional depth and cultural exposure over time, not a vague vibe to apologise for.
What really matters is how we can hold both data and feeling without turning it into a fight, which is exactly what Mark and Russell were digging into in Zagreb a couple of weeks ago, and something mark feels very passionate about.
Friends
Friends - Josh Mock
Josh is super chilled, driven by his love for community and is big-hearted to the core. A photographer with a top eye, he captures the soul and energy of Uptown and beyond - the vibes, the people and the moments that matter. We met through the running crew network and we clicked straight away - he welcomed us at runs, marathons and events.
Josh is a co-founder of We Run Uptown, a community built to support Washington Heights, Inwood and Harlem through running. They’re all about healthier lifestyles, personal goals and bringing brilliant people together through movement in the city.
Grounded, observant, fast and always giving back - check out Josh’s Q&A
Inspirations
Boris Acket x Fred Again
Fred Again brought the USB002 tour to the Great Hall and stacked the stage with pillars of UK music: JME, D Double E, Underworld, Mike Skinner, plus Romy, Berwyn and Ezra Collective. One of those nights you could feel standing on the shoulders of what came before.
Trackie McLeod’s Pub at Aviva Studios
Glasgow artist Trackie McLeod has built a fully functioning pub from scratch at Factory International’s Aviva Studios in Manchester last week. UTOPIA is a working boozer where punters can sink a beer, throw darts at Thatcher or Trump and explore mixed-media artworks.
Projecting British Design
A new book catalogues both the grand and inconspicuous icons of British design. Lemon squeezers, prosthetic dentures, beanbags - Projecting British Design makes readers reconsider the origins of objects we know so well.
If you have any inspirations that you’d like featured on UB, then please share them with us.
News from our friends
LABRUM London Fashion Week
It’s always good to see friends gaining momentum at Foday’s new collection last weekend. LABRUM presented AW26 THREADS OF OSMOSIS at London Fashion Week, the second chapter in the brand’s trilogy - an exploration of textile as a living archive of migration, memory and exchange.
Through textile, culture does not remain pure, it adapts, absorbs and endures. LABRUM rejects cultural purity and instead frames hybridity as historical truth.
Rocky’s Matcha Oscar Tuazon's Circle House
Oscar Tuazon’s Circle House (2026) extends a practice that has consistently tested the thresholds between sculpture, architecture and lived environment. This work recalls the spatial logic of traditional Japanese tea houses, whose architecture is inseparable from ritual, temporality and philosophical orientation. Commissioned by Rocky’s matcha and activated through traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, the installation is both artwork and functional environment. Circle House (2026) debuts Tuesday 24 February 2026 at Morán Morán and will remain on view during regular gallery hours.
Work with us
We’re looking for new people to contribute to Unorthodox Blend by sharing inspirations with us (it can be your own project!) or joining us on our podcast. Get in touch if you feel like you might have something to say.