In conversation with Eddie Foster, Co-Founder & Director, Handl Media.

There is a particular kind of creative who doesn’t talk about creativity. They talk about problems. About craft. About what it takes to make something that actually lands. Eddie Foster is one of those people.

Co-Founder and Managing Director of Handl, a Hong Kong-based creative agency working across hospitality, tourism and sport, Eddie started out filming action sports athletes in the mountains of British Columbia before returning to his home city. What he carried back wasn’t a reel but a way of seeing.

We asked him seven questions.

Q1 — You grew up in Hong Kong, trained your eye on athletes and mountains in British Columbia, and came back to tell the city’s story. Who is Eddie Foster at 7am before the brief lands?

Usually trying to get outside. Coffee, training, golf, anything that gets me moving before the day starts. I think I do some of my best thinking when I’m not actually trying to work.

Q2 — You went from action sports filmmaking to co-founding a creative agency working across hospitality, tourism and sport. What did filming athletes teach you about storytelling that a brief never could?

That you can’t force everything to happen. Some of the best moments come when you stop trying to control them and let things unfold naturally. People respond to what feels real, and action sports taught me to anticipate, observe and be ready when it does.

That lesson has carried into hospitality and tourism, where the experience has to feel tangible before it can become meaningful. You can describe a place, a hotel or a destination, but the real work is making someone feel its atmosphere, character and possibility. That emotional response is what makes a brand memorable.

Q3 — Hong Kong moves fast. What does the city give you creatively that nowhere else does?

For me, it’s the people. Beyond the obvious beauty of the mountains and the contrast between nature and the concrete jungle, Hong Kong’s real energy comes from the millions of people moving through it every day.

You’re constantly crossing paths with people from completely different backgrounds, industries and walks of life, all with their own stories and perspectives. I find that exchange intoxicating. There’s always something to learn, someone to meet, and inspiration is never very far away.

Q4 — What does simplicity mean to you — in how you make content and in how you live?

We’ve reached a point where we overcomplicate content so much that something simple and clear can almost feel revolutionary. That’s a strange reality. Somewhere along the way, we seem to have forgotten that the best ideas are often the easiest to understand and remember.

That’s why storytelling is so important to me. The simpler the message, the more likely it is to connect, be remembered and ultimately stand the test of time. I try to apply the same thinking to how I live: know what matters, remove what doesn’t, and don’t complicate things for the sake of it.

Q5 — Blank page or full brief — which do you prefer to start with, and has that changed since you started?

Full brief, 100%. Ask me ten years ago, and I probably would have said blank page. That was how I lived my life and how I wanted to be creative: spontaneous, instinctive and figuring it out as I went.

Today, my job is to make sure what we create has intention. You’d be surprised how often people want to make content without clearly defining who it’s for or why they need it. That’s how you end up creating content for the sake of content. A blank canvas might represent freedom, but even the most expressive art begins with something the artist wants to say.

I think people sometimes confuse a brief with a creative limitation. It isn’t. A good brief gives you context, purpose and a problem to solve. There’s still beauty in a blank page, but having parameters doesn’t deprive you of creativity. It gives that creativity somewhere to go.

Q6 — Content creation is being rewritten by AI in real time. What’s the role of the human eye in all of that?

I always start by separating augmentation from automation. I’m hugely interested in AI as a tool to augment what we do, but when you automate creativity entirely, you remove the sentient layer.

AI can understand patterns in how we describe a feeling, but it can’t draw on lived experience in the way we can. That matters enormously to me because so much of our work is rooted in experience. Sport, travel and hospitality all rely on people physically engaging with a place, a moment or a brand. Great content creates a desire to be part of that experience.

AI can help us imagine it, enhance it and communicate it, but it can’t stand on a mountain, walk into a hotel for the first time, or feel the atmosphere of a stadium. If you haven’t lived those experiences, there will always be a limit to how truthfully you can communicate what they feel like. That’s where the human eye remains imperative.

Q7 — Next personal project you’re excited about?

Oh, this is a great question, and I’m glad you asked. I’m currently working on a documentary that I hope will show just what Hong Kong is capable of achieving on the global stage. I can’t say much yet, but stay tuned.

Eddie Foster is Co-Founder and Director of Handl, a Hong Kong-based creative agency working across hospitality, tourism and sport.