In this episode, Katie speaks with Emmi Salonen, a Finnish graphic designer, creative director and educator, about creative wellbeing, burnout recovery, and how nature, travel and making connect us back to purpose.
“Fundamentally, you are already enough. This book isn’t another to-do list – it’s an invitation to breathe in.” - Emmi Salonen
Emmi is the founder of London-based Studio Emmi, known for championing Positive Creativity – the belief that design can foster wellbeing, connection, and sustainable choices. In this conversation, she shares the story behind her new book The Creative Wellbeing Handbook, how burnout changed her approach to creativity, and why building a creative ecosystem might be your most important project yet.
We cover:
Emmi’s journey from burnout to building a model for creative wellbeing
How solo travel sparked her first creative idea after a long pause
The power of making, nature, and deep observation
What creatives can learn from traditional craft cultures
The five areas of Emmi’s “Creative Ecosystem” model – and how they map to the design process
Why presence, rest and joy are creative tools too
The book-writing process and gathering 100+ creative voices from around the world
This episode is a gentle yet powerful invitation to rethink what it means to live and work creatively — especially when the spark feels far away.
Through Emmi’s story of burnout, recovery, and deep solo travel, we’re reminded that creative energy isn’t something we force — it’s something we nourish. From volcanic landscapes to hand-carved bus stops, her journey weaves together beauty, slowness and connection as tools for coming back to ourselves.
Whether you’re in a creative rut, craving spaciousness, or simply curious about building a more sustainable relationship with your work, this conversation is a quiet balm — full of warmth, wisdom and the kind of insight that lingers long after listening.
“I came back not with one miraculous answer, but comfort in knowing that we are in this together.” - Emmi Salonen
More from Emmi:
Studio Website: www.emmi.co.uk
Book site: www.creativewellbeingbook.com
Follow Emmi: @studioemmi on Instagram and LinkedIn
Pre-Order Emmi’s book: The Creative Wellbeing Handbook – out November 12
More from Katie:
Instagram: @katietreggiden.1
Website: https://katietreggiden.com/
Nature-inspired poetry: https://brackishbykatietreggiden.substack.com/t/poetry
Resources mentioned:
Course: Sustainable Branding via Domestika
Online Course: The Science of Well-Being by Yale University
Check out the full Bookshop.org podcast reading list to find links to all the books mentioned throughout Season 6 of Brackish.
I’m taking the plunge and taking on the Dip a Day in October Challenge to help end sewage pollution. Surfers Against Sewage are a charity of water lovers campaigning to protect the ocean and all it makes possible, by taking action on the ground that triggers change from the top.
🌊 £10 could help fund Surfers Against Sewage free sewage pollution alert app – keeping thousands of water users safe.
Any donations are hugely appreciated. Thank you.
What next?
If all this talk of defiant hope has got you wondering where you can find some, I have something for you. Cultivating Hope is my three-part mini-course and it’s the three steps I move through whenever I start to feel despair tugging at my edges.
You will move out of ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mode and into a calm and connected state, reconnect with nature, and find aligned actions that you can take now to keep you to remind you that you can make a difference.
In the current climate, hope is an act of defiance, and it’s one I hope you’ll take with me.
