YUM: A Creative Collective

At the end of last year, I ran a little experiment in my living room. The inspiration? Coffee houses — the kind that once buzzed with business chatter and newspaper rustle, but (historically) kept the doors firmly shut to women.

While men debated trade and ideas over coffee, women carved out their own spaces — often in tea rooms, salons, or domestic corners — places just as full of conversation, strategy, and creative exchange. I’ve always found that tension fascinating: who gets to gather, and where?

So I set out to reimagine that space — What would it look like to host a gathering built for shared learning and cross-disciplinary creativity? Nothing stiff or formal, simply a home-turned-café, where people could show up as themselves, and leave feeling a little more connected.

I invited friends working across architecture, technical design, cinematography, mechanics, film production, photography — anyone orbiting the creative and spatial industries. No formal agenda. Just good coffee, open conversation, and a loose prompt: What makes you creatively hungry?

The result was something between a salon and a studio session.

• 21 guests from 8 creative disciplines

• 4 hours of open dialogue

• 12+ cups of coffee brewed

I’d love to host another.

Let’s see.

Visual identity by Steph Smith