S23 Ep2: A RUDE awakening — why creativity should rule the world: Abi & Rupert Meats, Founders of RUDE
Conversations of Inspiration
Holly Tucker MBE
5.0 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2025
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this joyful episode, Holly chats with Abi & Rupert Meats — the powerhouse couple behind RUDE and Everyday Sunshine, a gallery and coffee shop dedicated to optimism and community.
Purveyors of positivity in every sense, they’ve been creating unapologetically bold, colourful work for 25 years. From hustling in their first studio to collaborating with Apple, Vogue and the Tate, they share the highs, lows, wins and losses of building a life around creativity.
Now, they’re driving a movement to bring creativity back into children’s lives. Their new book, CREATE, is a rallying cry for a generation growing up in a world where art is being sidelined in schools. Abi & Rupert talk openly about why creativity isn’t a “nice to have” — it’s a lifeline — and how they’re on a mission to put a copy of CREATE in every primary school in the UK.
So, if you’ve ever wondered what the world might look like if we treated joy and imagination as seriously as maths and science, this episode is for you.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Kids are not told where a podcast comes from or where their shoes come from. |
| 0:05.2 | Everything that we do, apart from eating, is art. |
| 0:09.5 | But our kids are not veered in that direction because the arts is still perceived as fine art, for instance. |
| 0:16.3 | But the arts are all the things that we consume all the time. |
| 0:21.3 | My guests, Abby and Rupert from Rood, it's one of those times where you sit down with people |
| 0:27.4 | that you've known for so long and actually you don't know enough about them. |
| 0:33.3 | And so these podcasts are a joy because I love their work. I love everything that they represent. |
| 0:40.7 | But it was as if they just kept blossoming through the interview. |
| 0:44.9 | And this episode is all about sort of getting under the skin of creativity as a whole and business and the ups and downs, the nuts and bolts, the heart-wrenching moments |
| 0:57.4 | where you have to close a company to the moments that you realize you might be starting |
| 1:03.6 | a movement 25 years in. It's also that point where I've interviewed a lot of people and they get to a stage where they say, |
| 1:15.1 | right, this is it. And for Abby, she turned a desk over. For me, I kicked off the heels. It's a |
| 1:23.7 | dedication to a mission of your life. And almost it feels as if your life depends on it. |
| 1:31.5 | This is a podcast you must listen to if you believe in creativity. |
| 1:36.6 | If you right now are saying, hell yes, I know everything in life is better with creativity in it. |
| 1:43.9 | You must listen because this is about safeguarding our future generations. |
| 1:48.2 | So grab a cup of tea, settle down. |
| 1:50.7 | If Rupert had his way, get some felt tips out, and listen to people doing what they love. |
| 1:56.7 | Enjoy. |
| 1:57.7 | Bow your head and let your eyelids close on down. Where we we're going you won't need to bring your frown. |
| 2:05.6 | Hi, I'm Holly Tucker and welcome to my podcast Conversations of Inspiration. |
| 2:10.6 | I've reached out to founders and those who simply inspire me to share their hard-earned wisdom with you. |
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