Featured in ZEIT Magazin: What Magic Can Teach Us About Human Connection

I was interviewed by ZEIT Magazin — one of Germany’s leading cultural publications — for a feature exploring an unusual question:

Why do magicians often report better mental wellbeing than many other performers?

The article examined a study suggesting that magicians, unlike many creative professionals, tend to score highly for emotional stability, focus, optimism, and low social anxiety. I was interviewed alongside two legendary names in British magic: Faye Presto and Michael Vincent.

One of the ideas I found most interesting was that magic, at its core, is not really about deception. It is about attention, connection, and creating moments of shared experience between people.

That is especially true in the corporate world.

At great events, people rarely remember the schedule or the table plan. They remember how the evening felt. The conversations they had and the moments of surprise and laughter they shared with colleagues and clients.

Close-up magic works particularly well in these environments because it happens in people’s hands, at their tables, and within natural conversation. It breaks down barriers quickly and creates energy in a room without ever dominating it.

The feature also explored how magicians develop unusual levels of focus and observation through years of practice. For me personally, magic has always been less about fooling people and more about understanding them –  reading a room, putting people at ease, and creating an experience that feels personal and memorable.

I’m grateful to ZEIT Magazin for including me in such an interesting discussion, and proud to have appeared alongside performers whose work I greatly admire.I was also a lot of fun to work with Guy Bolongaro, a very talented and creative photographer.

You can read the article here (German luanguage) – read ZEIT Magazin