It was after hours one day, working late at the office, when a thought popped up:

'What if this nine to five is limiting my creativity?' It was a question that, once asked, demanded attention. Going round and round, like a trapped creature unable to accept that there was no way out. Open Imagination started as frustration – a feeling of being confined to the limits of a self-made cage. Not a bad one as cages go, being Creative Director in a small but potent advertising agency in Bryanston, I was in a good place, but locked in none the less.

Creatives in the advertising industry, known for being expressive, passionate, strange and zany, can be surprisingly sensitive on the inside. An occupational hazard comes with the ruthless territory of their industry. Like an orchid that, nurtured with utmost care, can either burst into multitudes of exotic blooms, or wilt quietly, a creative in an ad agency requires a fine balance of attention and seclusion, in order to deliver the goods. Of all great ideas, the award-winning ones breed most sporadically in captivity. And when they do, it is most often when unobserved. 

Creative thinkers trade unforgettable ideas for security. For safety behind office walls, padded in paper – in-between the first page of a signed contract and the last day of the month, they are, ironically, free, to do what comes naturally. To some extent. And that is what made me want to strike out on my own. The prospect of complete creative freedom was impossible to resist. Believing that I could do even better creative work on my own, and for clients that I would choose to work with, I took a leap of faith. One day in April 2008 I resigned from full-time employment and went solo.

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