This week on micro/Maker: Embracing the Imperfect as a hairstylist

And, a composer shares how they manage collaboration between video game projects and concert music settings.

Author

Tyler Kline
October 10, 2025

🍃 Loose Leaf Transmissions – Weekly Dispatch

Hey there, friends. I hope you’ve had a good week so far, and I’m excited to bring you two new episodes of micro/Maker this week.

This week, we’ve got two conversations that feel especially grounded in care… for craft, for community, and for the people we create alongside.

First, hairstylist Anna Huffka talks about how her Japanese heritage and design sensibility shape her approach to beauty. She touches on celebrating imperfection with intention and what it means to help people feel truly seen, which really resonates with my own creative practice, even though hairstyling and composition couldn’t be any more different.

Then, Joshua Mallard dives into what collaboration really looks like across creative industries, from game audio to concert music. He shares how working with interdisciplinary teams flips the lone-genius composer stereotype on its head, and why balance matters more than ever for working artists.

Two short, thoughtful episodes. I think you’ll really enjoy them.

🎧 New on the Feed

🎙 micro/Maker

micro/Maker 041: Embracing the Imperfect (featuring Anna Huffka)

Anna Huffka shares how her Japanese heritage and concepts like wabi-sabi and iki shape her approach to beauty, celebrating imperfection and individuality with intention.

micro/Maker 042: Navigating Creative Collaboration (featuring Joshua Mallard)

Joshua Mallard reflects on the realities of creative collaboration, showing how teamwork and balance challenge the myth of the solitary artist.

Episodes are released every Tuesday and Friday. Subscribe now!

🔜 Coming Up Soon

Next week, I’m excited to sit down with composer Annika Socolofsky for a new episode of music/Maker.

Photo credit: Xuan Films

Annika is making some of my favorite music I’ve ever heard, and this conversation definitely lives up to how much I admire her work. We dig deep into her journey: from a chance encounter with the Silk Road Ensemble and a bagpiper that sparked her love for contemporary music, to how she’s since built a creative life that blurs the lines between composer, performer, and storyteller.

We talk about collaboration as a kind of resistance to the “lone genius” myth, what it means to make music with joy and play, and how vulnerability sits right at the heart of her art. It’s an honest, lively, and deeply inspiring conversation, and one I can’t wait for you to hear.

Stay tuned for that release next week, plus two new micro/Maker episodes with composers Yue Song and James May.

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I’m just about ready to share the biggest announcement I’ve ever made, and I can’t wait to bring you along for what’s next.