From the Paris Opera to directing the stage presence of Mick Jagger and Miley Cyrus, Stephen has built a distinct physical vocabulary. We spoke with him about why joy remains central to his creative process, and what it means to live between instinct and structure

With seven albums under her belt, musician and model Okay Kaya (aka Kaya Wilkins) explores the beautifully tangled web of sexuality, identity, mental health and love - with humour and honesty. Together, we unpack the power of collaborative intimacy, the evolution of her sound, lessons from the fashion world and the best opening line of all time.

"I don’t think every creative person should be given full license to do whatever they want. Boundaries—or restrictions—can breed greater creativity. How Long Gone is an hour. We never do more. We never do less"

"A lot of the new designers and young people coming into fashion are putting sustainability first. People are designing with deadstock fabrics, secondhand materials, and organic matter, like fungus and bacteria"

"It's more of a hope, a sense of optimism, but I really do believe people are moving away from some of the divisive tendencies and starting to refocus on community, on shared interests, on spaces where people can come together"

"My work is a product of my personality but it’s also a construct, and I make lots of decisions when I’m writing – it’s not as if I’m just letting it all out"

"I like the idea of a space where you can come to learn about an artist, hospitality, a neighbourhood, or even just something unexpected. There’s something about that exchange, that layered experience, that feels more authentic"

“I once overheard someone say to an artist whose book I’d designed, “oh, I thought you designed your own books,” and that meant I got it right”

“My advice to filmmakers was always to view any meeting with an investor as the start of a long-term relationship, not just someone to fill a gap in their budget”

“There's this emphasis on growth, growth, growth, growth. Small can be very beautiful...I don't think growth should always be the barometer for success”

"This obsession with keeping everybody in their box is detrimental to creating electricity and inventing new ways of communicating with each other and doing things"

"Punjabi culture reminds me to stay grounded and have faith in life, which in turn allows me to have faith in myself"

"The way things are framed by different people says a lot about them - not necessarily in a negative or positive way, but through the way they might 'see' and how they go about capturing 'that' moment"

"I really now look for the authentic mishaps, or the surprise lighting of the sun bouncing a certain way, or the models being street-cast and bringing their lives into the work"

"My mother never got to express herself. So it became my duty to become obsessed with women's freedom. I made an entire book about creative women"

"Pop culture has always just been culture. It could mean a really obscure show by an obscure artist, an inscrutable poem next to a politician, and then you flip the page and there's a porn star. It's the tapestry of the lives we live – a mix of high and low"

"Some experiences are not just photo shoots, you’re creating a collaboration that can’t easily be replicated. The pieces just come together"

"These are ideas I come up with at night, and then the next day I turn them into reality...I’ve had experiences in finance, fashion, business, and showcasing creativity, so IRON brings all of this together for me"

"I think one of his central themes is the drug of love – that initial hit and then the mess that comes after. I think that's certainly been part of his life"

"When you pull a carrot from the earth, the difference in taste between that and one you’ve bought on a supermarket shelf tells you everything. It's sweet. It's utterly carrotty because it's still got its nutrients"

"It is an inexplicable high when you get a tip from a source. I chase that feeling. When you're young, you have all the energy in the world"

"With the camera, I could do creatively what a writer or journalist does with a pencil and paper"

"A lot of my art today is looking at invisible histories and making them visible, because if they are neglected for too long, they disappear"

"Lindbergh developed many projects people don’t know about. One of his biggest was interviewing and filming US prisoners on death row"

"I enjoy the challenge of making the work look beautiful under the unforgiving flash photography of the paparazzi"

"Feeling like you're still striving for success or you're trying to get on to the next rung of the ladder is such a driving force"

"Are you connected, plugged into it, or making it happen? That’s the million-dollar question"

"I like introducing new people to each other through my film-making"