How reading a book overlooking Mount Fuji helped me find the name for my studio

I sometimes get asked what the story is behind the name Lost Property. I tend to prefer to leave things like this open to interpretation. I don’t want to pin it down too tightly because the meaning can, and I think should, evolve. But I thought it would be quite nice to share a little bit of the backstory and what inspired it.

I read The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin a while back. Thanks for the gift, Chris Moody 💙. I was in Japan, actually, at a beautiful spot looking out to Mount Fuji. It was quite magical, and no surprise that the book was able to penetrate into the softer, mushier part of my brain.

The book introduced this idea to me that creativity doesn’t start in the mind, but in the Source – a universal space where ideas exist before we find them and make them real. The concept is (as I interpret it) is that the Source contains all ideas that can exist – should exist – and eventually will exist.

Since reading that, I’ve thought of creativity less as generating something new from nothing (so much pressure?!) and more about tuning ourselves to what is already there. Recognising the ideas that are ready to arrive and guiding them into reality.

It made me start thinking about ideas as a kind of unclaimed property. All the value in the world that exists was once just lost property. And all future ideas just need to be found by the right creator to make them real.

There is an interesting concept in simply existing in that space. Exploring this invisible in-between – this white space between imagination and reality where possible unclaimed ideas currently sit. Lost.

It’s a freeform place where you can explore what is possible. When people are pondering, that’s where they are. It’s where I like to spend a lot of my time. It’s where I feel most alive.

In a way, the name should act as a constant reminder that this space exists. It’s a reminder that I should return there as often as I can.

It’s a funny idea. It’s very philosophical, I know. But I quite like that.

I liked the idea of building a business around ideas. No matter what is happening in the world or what the future looks like, ideas will always be there. I didn’t want to build a business around AI. I didn’t want to build around a certain type of work, or specialise in a sector or a certain type of service or strategy or brand.

I just wanted to build something around ideas.

Doing it this way gives a little bit of open space to explore what this thing could be and where it could evolve. I don’t know how it ends. I like that. I don’t want it to be too resolved.

Lost Property is a place to find and explore the ideas waiting to be found. A space that sits between imagination and reality.

Visit Lost Property Studio website