A lot going on in the world right now, and I'm going to send an email about the cute logos and websites we built? The buildings we named and the restaurants we filmed? Performative. Look-at-me.

In a chaotic world that feels like it’s spiralling towards something inevitable. Why should our voice matter?

And with that, I've lost mine.

We work with brands all the time to help capture their voice. It's been a hard one for me to capture for Forge. I've had attempts at being good at marketing ourselves and telling our story. I wrote a couple of articles last year, started a Substack, deleted that Substack, started another one, posted on LinkedIn (which made me hate myself). One got a lot of reads and we got two new clients from it. Didn't stop me from feeling like a soulless corpo. The antithesis of why I started doing this shit.

So forgive me lord, it has now been 134 days since my last EDM.

The last one got some great replies who became clients, so naturally we got to work, built good relationships, and didn't bother planning or sending any more. And now, after a month and a half abroad, time to get back to it.

Starting again. Opening back up the thoughts, insights and fears: 300+ poorly organised notes from my phone that somewhat relate to the world we're navigating. This time sustainably. An EDM a month. We already do it for our clients, they scale, grow, and get rewarded for it. For us? I really don't mind. I write all the time. Hundreds of notes from coffee shops, the back of Ubers, a moment of inspiration, a cool billboard, a nice shop front. I snap a photo and write.

I could say I'm sitting at a brasserie in Paris, Chablis and Macbook on the table, on playthrough 3 of Kanye's Bully, tipa-tapping away at my keyboard.

That would be a lie.

I'm horizontal, in bed in our hotel room (still in Paris, mind you), typing on my phone into Notion.

In writing this I realised how depressing that is with 7 days till my flight home, so I have now moved to a brasserie and I'm now having a beer.

So what is Forge Studio in 2026. What have we been doing for the last 134 days.

The work is starting to bring me immense pride. Having a portfolio of logos and projects to point to was my dream when I started. I can now, with some confidence, point people to our work and say that. The quality across brand, digital, video and CGI is my pride and joy, and when it's reciprocated by clients, partners, new hires, or family, it starts to feel like it's all worth it.

And if it all goes tits up, at least I could get a job in-house with a developer.

You can see it on the website, we've grown, projects have continued, and the best ones haven't even launched yet.

So what have I been doing, and why do I feel the need to write?

Travel is perspective-opening. It creates a moment for thought and space from the reality. Anyone who works with me knows I'm rarely in the country, we're incredibly lucky to have clients and projects at home and abroad. Bali, UK, Paris, Greece this past quarter.

But travel also breaks momentum. New client relationships lack the depth of the old. Timezones and Teams calls. The team frays as days move by without leadership. Motivation drops. Work gets done to the same quality, but not with the same energy. It feels more like a slog.

Physically it drains too. Living out of a suitcase. Instability. No routine. Mental panic around hiccups in cashflow and an ever increasing waistline.

The big things are Forge Studio's growth, the launch of Miira, and the continued momentum with Santi Capital. Each deserves its own story, which I feel compelled to start telling.

I also think what we do matters. Some clients make that feel small, and these days we simply won't work with them. It's true what they say, negativity bias is real. It puts me on the pendulum, swinging from let's fkn go to we're so fkd.

The truthful version of this post is probably that I'm not sure whether our voice matters right now. I just know the alternative is staying quiet which has never been my strong suite.