Time Sensitive

Iris van Herpen’s boundary-defying, otherworldly work exists somewhere between couture, sculpture, science, technology, architecture, and nature. For nearly two decades, the Dutch fashion designer has radically expanded the possibilities of what forms haute couture can take, combining time-honored craftsmanship techniques with cutting-edge technologies and material innovations, from 3-D—and, perhaps eventually, 4-D—printing to bioluminescent algae, plasma, and even particle accelerators. While her practice boldly and unquestionably points toward the future, it’s equally invested in ancient knowledge, deep time, and what might endure. Currently, a sweeping exhibition, titled “Sculpting the Senses” and showcasing some 140 of her designs, is on view at the Brooklyn Museum through Dec. 6.
On this episode of Time Sensitive—our Season 14 opener and first-ever fully filmed conversation, now available to watch on YouTube—van Herpen reflects on the significance of movement in her work the importance of carving out meditative time for creative exploration, and why going slower actually allows her to do more, with greater depth.
Special thanks to our Season 14 presenting partner, L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels.
Show notes:
Iris van Herpen
[33:21] “Sculpting the Senses”
[51:50] Philip Beesley
[51:50] Björk
[35:13] “Unfolding Time” (2024)
[21:41] Sonic Starquakes (2026)
[22:36] Lichtenberg figure
[47:54] “The Gates of Hell” (1880–1917)
[48:06] Musée Rodin
[49:28] “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (1490–1510)
[54:18] “Hybrid Holism” (2012)
[58:24] Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode

Time Sensitive is a podcast featuring candid, revealing long-form conversations with extraordinary people about their life and work through the lens of time. Host Spencer Bailey interviews each guest about how they think about time—and how pivotal moments have shaped who they are today.

Listen at timesensitive.fm, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

Dries Van Noten’s lifelong fascination with craft and making runs deep. He grew up in a multigenerational family of retailers and tailors in Antwerp, and in the 1980s, he was part of the famed avant-garde Antwerp Six group of Belgian fashion designers. From 1986 to 2024, across 38 years and 129 runway shows, Van Noten built one of fashion’s most admired independent houses. Since stepping away from the helm of his namesake label two years ago, he has turned his attention to establishing the Fondazione Dries Van Noten in Venice, Italy. Set within the 15th-century Palazzo Pisani Moretta on the Grand Canal, his newly opened foundation is dedicated to craft in its broadest sense—bringing together artists, designers, makers, and thinkers across disciplines and generations. Its debut exhibition, “The Only True Protest Is Beauty,” on view through Oct. 4, features a playful, eclectic assemblage of striking works from the worlds of haute couture, jewelry, photography, art, design, ceramics, and glass. 

For this “site-specific” episode of Time Sensitive, our Season 13 finale, Spencer meets up with Van Noten inside his foundation to discuss his lifelong fascination with making; beauty as an essential force in one’s life; and his conviction that, in our frenzied, fragmented world, craft offers a gateway to greater meaning and human connection.

Special thanks to our Season 13 presenting partner, L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts.

Show notes: 

Dries Van Noten

[01:08] Fondazione Dries Van Noten

[06:47] Chiara Pisani

[12:41] “The Only True Protest is Beauty.”

[12:41] Phil Ochs

[15:11] Misha Kahn

[15:11] Ettore Sottsass

[15:11] Palazzo Pisani Moretta

[16:50] Steven Shearer

[17:50] Lionel Jadot

[19:13] Christian Lacroix

[19:20] Peter Buggenhout

[21:25] Joris Laarman

[34:59] The Antwerp Six (2026)

[36:45] Claude Montana

[36:45] Thierry Mugler

[36:45] Jules-François Crahay

[36:57] Comme des Garçons

[36:57] Yohji Yamamoto

[38:12] Xavier Mañosa

[43:04] Azuma Makoto

[44:09] Rei Kawakubo

[44:12] Mitsuhiro Matsuda

[45:36] Tadao Ando

[51:48] David Bowie

Through PIN–UP, the German-born, New York–based editor, curator, and founder Felix Burrichter continues to expand the possibilities of what an architecture magazine can be. He constructs intuitive bridges between creative sectors—whether art, design, and music, or fashion, film, and food—and shows how the built environment shapes and responds to larger societal and cultural forces. Amid endlessly scrollable, algorithmically controlled digital feeds, PIN–UP remains committed as ever to a print-forward, human-led approach. 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of this self-described “magazine for architectural entertainment” and the launch of its 40th issue, a special edition devoted to the notion of “Independence”—a north star for Burrichter, who has long championed slower, more intentional forms of media rooted in curiosity, discovery, and pleasure.

On the episode, Burrichter reflects on why he sees magazines as intimate dinner parties; how slowness and experimentation have become his publication’s defining strengths; and why, despite our precarious present, he continues to strive toward utopia.

Special thanks to our Season 13 presenting partner, L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts.

Show notes:

Felix Burrichter

[00:50] PIN–UP Magazine

[07:01] India Mahdavi

[09:42] Alexandra Cunningham Cameron

[12:50] Moriyama House by Ryue Nishizawa

[18:33] PIN–UP Home

[27:21] Jay Osgerby

[31:10] Theaster Gates

[31:10] Solange Knowles and Saint Heron

[31:24] Solange’s “Losing You” (2012)

[32:19] Luther Vandross’s “A House Is Not a Home” (1981)

[44:14] KPF

[47:53] Jop Van Bennekom and Gert Jonkers

[47:53] Stephen Todd

[48:41] Dylan Fracareta

[48:41] Geoffrey Han

[49:34] “Taking It Slow With Spencer Bailey”

[49:54] Paulo Mendes da Rocha

[52:28] Bijoy Jain

[59:34] The Barbie Dreamhouse

[59:50] “Isamu Noguchi: ‘I Am Not a Designer’”

[1:02:16] Dozie Kanu

[1:06:34] Ben Ganz

[1:08:57] Travis Scott

[1:13:27] Rana Toofanian

Through her multifaceted work, the Bulgarian-born, Brooklyn-based writer, reader, and researcher Maria Popova, founder of the “free, ad-free, A.I.-free, fully human” website and newsletter The Marginalian, braids together literature, science, philosophy, poetry, and art in beautiful, alchemical ways. Traversing centuries, she approaches various ideas and thinkers, living and dead, as active references in the expansive, ongoing project of learning what it means to be human. Now, nearly 20 years since the site’s founding, she continues to cultivate a singular space on the internet—one devoted not so much to information but to illumination. Her latest book, Traversal, which links figures such as Mary Shelley and Walt Whitman, alongside other writers, poets, physicists, and philosophers, serves as an intellectual journey and an across-time meditation on creativity, consciousness, and interconnectedness.

On this episode of Time Sensitive, Popova discusses the idea of “spiritual ancestors,” why today’s A.I. debates are fundamentally modern versions of age-old questions about the soul, and the mystery of being alive.

Show notes: 

Maria Popova

[03:14] Traversal (2026)

[04:04] René Descartes

[05:07] Aristotle

[05:07] Susan Sontag

[05:15] Alan Lightman

[06:33] Mary Shelley

[06:33] Walt Whitman

[08:00] Frankenstein (1818)

[12:21] Frances “Fanny” Wright

[14:21] Rube Goldberg

[15:34] Freeman Dyson

[15:34] Maker of Patterns: An Autobiography Through Letters (2018)

[20:43] Nina Simone

[21:40] Dan Frank

[21:40] Figuring (2019)

[31:24] The Marginalian

[40:18] T.S. Elliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915)

[42:12] Iris Murdoch

[42:33] The Universe in Verse (2024)

[42:54] Patti Smith

[42:54] Rebecca Elson

[42:58] Vera Rubin

[43:33] “Urns for Living”

[51:18] Dacher Keltner’s Awe (2023)

[55:09] Sylvia Plath

[55:41] Leaves of Grass (1855)