My Notes from Conversations with Christophe Egret on Building a Soulful Creative Business

It was June in London, long days of early summer, I was a student again. Not the same kind I had been in earlier chapters of my life. This time, I was learning to unlearn.

I joined the Future London Academy Design Leaders Programme, inspired by its mission to make the world a better place.

Those days were slow and golden. I spent weekends in the park between sunlight, under trees on my laptop, I tried to define the future of my creative practice, Maison Creative. What would it become if it grew from the heart rather than from demand. My laptop was filled with roadmaps, AI-generated plans, and color-coded sticky notes that mapped my dreams. Yet the more I planned, the more layered and complex my thoughts became and I needed to simplify.

I had a why, a North Star: To create beauty for our community and the world.

I had a vision board, a three-year roadmap and a detailed timeline.

But I needed something deeper, a philosophy to guide it all.

That’s when I met Christophe Egret, architect, co-founder of Studio Egret West, and one of our programme final project advisors. He had this rare bubbly calmness, the kind that feels like a life well lived. Our conversation touched my soul, and it shifted how I see design, leadership, and the core of my creative work.

Christophe is a founder, designer, and deep thinker who has lived the long arc of building a meaningful creative studio. He shaped the practice around seven guiding principles: Studio, Showroom, Strategy & Specificity, Storytelling, Symbiosis, Serendipity, and Sustainability each one reflecting a way of designing that is both soulful and systemic.

Now approaching its 21st anniversary, Studio Egret West, now an Employee Ownership Trust, stands as a London landmark in itself, a multidisciplinary practice of over 80 designers creating architecture, urban design, and landscape rooted in context, culture, and soul. As Christophe stepped down as Director last October on his 65th birthday, he leaves behind a legacy of leadership that embodies his soulful depth and child like curiosity.

Our first conversation, during the advisory session for my MBA final project, became the seed of my entire philosophy, the idea that a company, like nature, can be a living system. Days later, I met him again at our graduation ceremony, where his reflections on intuition reminded me to live a well-lived, creative life.

Here are some of my notes from our conversations:

1. Feeling is more important than Hearing

Christophe’s note: “Your titles are too generic.”

Pushed me to move beyond abstract words, to think in terms of soul, heart, shared history, and nurturing the planet.

He said specificity is what gives form to feeling. If I want Maison Creative to be known and remembered, he said, “Be specific so people feel what you’re offering.” It’s not about branding; it’s about language that carries emotion, so when someone hears it, they feel what you stand for.

That’s when I learned about his process framework, The Seven Ss, Studio, Showroom, Strategy & Specificity, Storytelling, Symbiosis, Serendipity. They are guiding principles that underline who they are and "how they roll"

2. The Roots of Everything

Christophe is known for sketching as he speaks to his clients, translating thought into form.

When I finished explaining my philosophy for Maison Creative, he looked at me for a long moment and said softly, “I see a tree.” He wasn’t sketching then, but I could almost see the drawing forming in his mind, roots, branches, growth.

He explained that every building has roots, and every project too.

In our case, he said, those roots are the people: the clients we serve, the creatives we grow, the students we inspire. He saw Maison Creative not as a business, but as an ecosystem. Alive, interdependent, and constantly renewing, like a tree in seasons.

3. Even systems need Narrative

Christophe appreciated my structured approach to the vision: the pillars, the roadmap, the milestones. But he said something that reframed it all: “You’re missing a narrative.”

A structure is only useful when it’s moved by story. Without it, even the most efficient system lacks depth. He reminded me that meaning doesn’t come from organization charts or strategies, it comes from the story we tell about why we exist.

A company, like a city, becomes human when it has a story worth belonging to.

4. Protect the 70% That Keeps You Alive

When I asked how he managed to stay creatively involved while leading a large studio, he said, almost without hesitation: “At least 70% of your time should be spent doing the things you love.”

He explained that leadership doesn’t mean stepping away from creativity, it means designing your role so that what gives you energy stays at the center.

The rest, you teach and delegate. “Pass the talent on,” he said. “Give clear responsibilities, and teach responsibility.”

It’s how he continued to sketch, design, and think freely while his team ran a studio of over eighty. Passion, he reminded me, isn’t a phase of leadership. It’s the fuel.

5. Every office needs a playground

I was fascinated by Studio Egret West’s Showroom. So I asked him how did that work? How did they fund it? Run it? Christophe explained that the studio funds the showroom, but the showroom brings new clients to the studio.

Every few months, they curate exhibitions which then attract clients working on exactly these topics or themes. The showroom becomes a bridge: a space to test ideas, inspire experiments, and let the team co-create. It even has its own annual budget.

It taught me that creative ecosystems can thrive even if one is inspiring, and another one is sustaining.

6. Better Clients & Brighter Teams

When I asked, “If you were starting Studio Egret West today, what would you prioritize?”

He answered without hesitation: “Better clients.”

He believes in the importance of selectivity, prioritizing and finding the right clients ensures the work is meaningful and impactful, supporting the firm’s philosophy and financial health. And alongside that, he emphasized the need for a brilliant team, curious, expressive, and engaged.

7. Living Intuitively

At the graduation, I picked his brain for at least 30 minutes (missing on major group photos) I was more curious to have another conversation to discover more of the soul he brought in to his work. I concluded my heavy round with “What are you learning now?”

He smiled and said, “It wouldn’t make sense to say this because you’re not supposed to learn it, but it’s to live intuitively. Maybe it’s not about learning, but about just letting it be.”

That final note, live intuitively, stayed with me.

In the end, what I took from Christophe wasn’t advice for building a soulful creative business, it was perspective. That design, like life, breathes best when it moves with intuition. That a company, like a tree, should grow from its roots. And that leadership is more about soul than management.