Emerging Masters
Emerging Masters
The Talks’ Emerging Masters is
a series in partnership with Rolex featuring the extraordinary talents shaping the future of creativity.![]()
a series in partnership with Rolex featuring the extraordinary talents shaping the future of creativity.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley: “The audience is a vital part of it”, Artist

Lyas: “I try to be guided by instinct”, Fashion narrator

Petros Dimas: “Success is in the small things”, Chef

Jesse Jenkins: “You get another chance every day”, Chef, cookbook author

Santiago Lastra: “If you love it, it’s worth it”, Chef, restaurateur

Sean Momberger: “I’m a part of something big”, Music producer

Alessandra Rampazzo and Marcello Galiotto: “Passion is what guides us”

Rafael Manuel: “I’m taking it as a chance for growth”, Film director, screenwriter

Nilüfer Yanya: “You want to feel something”, Singer, songwriter, musician

Nicoletta Manni: “There’s always more to discover”, Ballet dancer

Arine Aprahamian: “Small changes go a long way”, Architect, interior designer

Maya Hawke: “I’m a lifelong learner”, Actor, singer, songwriter

Song Yi Jeon: “That’s what I have to do”, Vocalist

Quvenzhané Wallis: “Not perfect, but better”, Actor

Zakiya Dalila Harris: “That’s the essence of it”, Author

Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer: “We want to give people an experience”

Eva Fàbregas: “My sculptures are endlessly becoming”, Artist

Bronwyn Katz: “How I can extend the object’s life?”, Artist, sculptor

Ayesha Harruna Attah: “I’m in constant conversation”, Author

Seong-Jin Cho: “It’s an endless journey”, Pianist

Julian MacKay: “That’s just a part of me”, Dancer

Kenneth Ize: “Clothes tell us about who we are”, Fashion designer

Gabriel Massan: “Anything is possible”, Artist

Kiernan Shipka: “I was living those themes in my own ways”, Actor

Tye Sheridan: “You have to rise to the moment”, Actor

Paloma Elsesser: “I’m living less fearfully”, Model

Saniyya Sidney: “This is what I want to do”, Actor

Denzel Curry: “I have no regrets”, Rapper

Kyle Bell: “I can do this”, Film director

Whitney White: “Just keep expanding”, Theater director, actor

Jan Lisiecki: “The music speaks for itself”, Pianist

Randall Goosby: “It’s not just notes on a page”, Violinist

Flume: “I’ve started to put life as a priority”, Musician

Syd: “I’m ready to move forward”, Singer, songwriter, producer

Caleb Landry Jones: “Acting will always be strange to me”, Actor

Gab Bois: “If it’s yours, it’ll come”, Artist

Genesis Owusu: “I’ve always known who I am”, Singer, rapper, songwriter

Chaitanya Tamhane: “I want to find my own language”, Film director, screenwriter

Fana Hues: “It feels like completion”, Singer, songwriter

Saad Moosajee: “You have to resonate with it”, Artist, video director

Sumayya Vally: “Architecture is an assertion of who we are”, Architect

Ferdinando Cito Filomarino: “It was a different type of mission”, Film Director

Arlo Parks: “It feels like what I’m meant to do”, Musician

Maisie Schloss: “It’s so deeply my aesthetic”, Fashion Designer

Dieuveil Malonga: “Food has no borders”, Chef

Agustina San Martin: “I refuse to be one thing”, Film Director
ACHIEVEMENT
“I’m doing something that I love, and I consider that to be success. But if you think it’s gonna come fast or easy, then you probably are in for some rough times. You need to always be ready to throw things out and do it over again, and know that you love the process enough to be doing it repeatedly. Always be in love with the process and in love with your talent. And know that you’re going to keep doing it because it’s what you love doing.”Alan MenkenFilm composer
“I am not that interested at the moment to work for the sake of others, I’m not interested in doing commissions. I'm way more interested in creating art for art's sake and in order to do that I have to believe in myself.”Ólafur ArnaldsMusician
“I thought for a long time as the business grew, “Is this something I want to do for the rest of my life?” And I knew it was not. When I left Calvin Klein, I had done almost everything I wanted to do in terms of creation of products. And re-doing was less fun.”Calvin KleinFashion designer
“I don’t want to continue to do what I did when I was 20. I would like to continue to develop myself .”Anton CorbijnPhotographer
“Although sometimes I feel tired and think I ought to give it up, I don’t want to just retire. No, I enjoy it all and you just keep going until the day comes when you can’t do it anymore.”Anthony HopkinsActor
“I don’t pander to anybody. I don’t care who it is. I just do the picture I do.”David BaileyPhotographer
“I would like to think that someday I will be content enough with myself and feel good enough about myself to think I don’t need to do all that sort of shit and I’ll just go and watch tomatoes grow or something.”Nick CaveMusician
“I live from my heart. I am not a cerebral person. I will never be. I am 55 years old. I will continue doing things the way I have done them my whole life.”Antonio BanderasActor
“To do something no one else has ever done, it’s satisfying, but the thing is nobody else is really playing the game of free solo climbing, so it's easy to win when no one else plays, you know?”Alex HonnoldAthlete
“We’re going after it. We’re going after what we believe and what we deserve and we’re not taking the back seat anymore. I see an improvement in the way that we as women are standing together and paving the way for the next generations. It’s time for that.”Alicia KeysMusician
“It was eye opening and an education really, a masterclass working with Martin Scorsese on Killers of the Flower Moon. That talent! Of course, you are in the presence of a master, working with him.”Brendan FraserActor
“I think that one should make a house that really fits you like your second soul. It should be your most preferred place on earth!”Axel VervoordtCurator
“Once I commit to an idea, then I just move forward with it, no matter what. And that's always how I've operated when it comes to my art. I'm kind of tenacious in that way, even if it takes a lifetime, eventually I will make that thing.”Alex PragerPhotographer
“For the first 20 years in my career all I did was add things; more courses, more silverware, more ingredients, adding, adding, adding. Only like three years ago or so I was able to really start focusing on removing and felt confident to do so. I finally created a dish where for the first time I felt like I achieved what I tried to do for 23 years.”Daniel HummChef
“The thing I’ve gathered more of over the years is a self-confidence that’s to do with having done work that people have liked.”Ian McKellenActor
“You’ve got to actually write it. You’ve got to actually sit there and do it, it can’t just be about the experience. Lots of people have fantastic experiences in life, but don’t have any inclination to put pen to paper.”Irvine WelshAuthor
“I think all the roles of my career have presented me with opportunities for my own personal growth. Roles that really push you out of your comfort zone, it really helps you to grow, and it then brings you greater capacity for love within yourself and love for others.”Demi MooreActor
“I want to be an authentic person. I start to feel that it’s a mission. I am not going to hold back on an opinion I have about something; I don’t know what the point of that would be.”Bret Easton EllisAuthor
“I always want to take a human portrait. My goal in life is always to enter into everything with great care and with great humanity.”Catherine OpiePhotographer
“I remember driving in New York in 1976 and I put the brakes on quickly because there was the very, very first Vogue cover that I ever shot. Big, on a bus shelter! And I remember just pulling over and just staring at it. At that point it was a real dream to see one of your pictures there. I’d always dreamed of doing a Vogue cover!”Albert WatsonPhotographer
“When I was younger I used to have more anxiousness to obtain things. But there are moments in which you obtain those things and then you relax.”Antonio BanderasActor
“If it sounds right, then I’m happy, no matter how I got there. I just want to make beautiful music.”Nils FrahmMusician
“Art is about finding creativity in the normal gutter next to you. To see the potential in something where there is no potential in terms of how society sees it is often where art or creativity is a great tool. It’s about making the impossible possible.”Olafur EliassonArtist
“The guys who are real artists are people who have figured out the art of living; their art is art because they live. They have made living an art, they have made an art of living. They are constantly inputting life as opposed to expressing life.”Bill MurrayActor
“Every time you hear a piece of music that you’ve written, you remember the joy of it. Even if you don’t remember exactly what the writing process was like, there’s a moment where you hear it and your heart is full. It’s a similar emotion like when you are in love with someone, you feel that internal joy.”Ludovico EinaudiMusician
“There’s only one of you in the world. No one else is like you and that's a superpower.”Noomi RapaceActor
“It’s the rollercoaster ride of doing something creative: when it goes well and you enjoy the process then it’s a high and you just want to keep on doing it.”Christian BaleActor
“After winning an Oscar, there’s an alertness to what you’re thinking or doing or saying. I feel like there’s an aliveness to the experience that wasn’t as attuned previously.”Chiwetel EjioforActor
“I’m surviving. I do everything I can to speak out and make sure that I keep my humanity.”Ai WeiweiArtist
“The first song that I wrote was the way of discovering if I could write a song. And after that one I knew that I understood the form. Everything after that became more personal.”David ByrneMusician
“There is something in leaving this place better than where you have left it, working on yourself, doing things with other people, there is something in that that feels right, deep in your core. I go with that.”Albert Hammond Jr.Musician
“The journey is everything! It’s a cliché, but I have really felt it in my own life, in the 25 or 30 years I’ve been in this… The goal is the process, really enjoying the process.”Matt DamonActor
“I think the mark of a great song, photo or a painting is something you can remember. It’s kind of that simple. If you work at it, there will be times when the intangible becomes tangible and for a moment… You are a wizard.”Bryan AdamsMusician
“Architecture is something that you should be inside and absorbed by. It’s something which convinces you by experience more than impresses you by image.”David ChipperfieldArchitect
“The entire aim of my work is to elevate the human spirit.”Marina AbramovićArtist
“I think the final circle in being an artist is connecting, making some conversation to the world you’re in. I think if you have that feeling of why you need to do something, you’ll find a way. And I think that really takes you forward!”Elizabeth PeytonArtist
“I try to look at things more from the perspective that everything is happening for us, not to us. And so whatever challenges that were occurring at the time, perhaps they were happening just so this moment could happen.”Demi MooreActor
“Art is something that you do – you can't not do it. If I made money doing it, I would do it; if I didn't make any money, I would do it.”Julian SchnabelArtist
“I do not consider architecture as art, nor do I consider architects to be artists. However, I do have a strong desire to improve the purity of my expression and put a strong message into my architecture so that I can call it art!”Tadao AndoArchitect
“When you keep yourself open, you just might get to know yourself and know the good things about yourself. And that's why I always come back to songwriting. It's the way I kind of try and make sense of my life.”Jarvis CockerMusician



