INTERVIEW | Inside the creator's mind
Three creatives. One mindset. Six questions.
We asked Carlo D'Alesio, IALD CLD, Joana Forjaz and Chris Middleton – three creators featured in our brand film to reflect on their process: Where it begins. What it demands. And where it leads.
Q: What tells you an idea is worth pursuing?
‘An idea creates a pull. Quiet, persistent. It lingers even when you move on to other things. That’s how I know. It becomes a thread you can’t let go of, even if it changes, even if it evolves.’ - Carlo D’Alesio
‘It’s the idea I can’t fully explain yet. The one that feels unsettling, but also full of tension and possibility. The real ideas ask questions. They stay alive inside you.’ - Joana Forjaz
‘If an idea disrupts what I thought I knew, I pay attention. Good ideas don’t feel easy. They create friction. They make you wrestle with them and that’s when they start to matter.’ - Chris Middleton
Q: What does your creative process actually feel like?
‘It’s intuitive and unpredictable. It starts from fragments: emotions, references, impressions. Some days nothing connects. Other days, it flows without logic. The chaos, the uncertainty – it’s part of the work. You have to stay with it.’ - Joana Forjaz
Q: What role does doubt play in your work?
‘Doubt is essential. It keeps me questioning, adjusting, looking deeper. Confidence brings momentum, but doubt brings depth. You don't get real innovation without both.’ - Chris Middleton
Q: When do you feel most in flow?
‘When complexity is real, but not paralyzing. When I’m inside a problem, and every decision builds the next. It’s quiet work, focused work. You lose time. You listen to the material, the space, the idea itself.’ - Chris Middleton
Q: Where does your best work begin: Function, Form, or Feeling?
‘It always begins with feeling. Even in technical projects, I start by asking: how should this space feel? Emotion sets the rhythm. Form and function follow once the emotional direction is clear.’ - Carlo D’Alesio
Q: What do you hope people feel in the spaces you help create?
‘Surprise, and then a sense of clarity. A moment that disrupts, then feels inevitable. When a space breaks your rhythm and resets it in a better way, it leaves meaning behind’. - Carlo D’Alesio
‘I want people to feel like the space understands them, even without words. To slow down, to breathe, to feel something that stays with them after they leave.’ - Joana Forjaz
‘I hope people feel respected. That the space was created with care, intention, and emotional intelligence. Success is when a space quietly makes sense, on a human level.’ - Chris Middleton
THE CREATORS
Carlo D’Alesio | Lighting Designer Founder and Partner at D’Alesio&Santoro, Milan
Joana ForJaz | Lighting designer Founder & Architect at Joana Forjaz Lighting Design, Lisbon
Chris Middleton | Architect Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Kinzo, Berlin.