EP22: Simon Brown On Resilience, Vulnerability, and Building Cultural Engines That Shift Worlds

What if pressing pause on your studio was the most radical creative act you could make?

For more than two decades, Simon Brown has worked at the intersection of design, publishing, and cultural production. Through his studio AND, he has shaped books, exhibitions, and collaborations that challenge how design is made and remembered—from Content with Rem Koolhaas to Figures of Speech with Virgil Abloh.

His journey has never followed a straight line. At one point, Simon shut down his studio entirely and disappeared into six months of fishing—only to return with a sharper focus on ideas, resilience, and what it really means to be a cultural engine. He speaks candidly about failure, vulnerability, and the need to reframe success beyond awards or client lists.

In this episode, Simon reflects on his ...