Creativity Quote by David Milne

Name-dropping is the oldest shortcut to credibility, and Milne sidesteps it with a practiced half-smile. "I don't really like to talk specifically about customers by name" performs modesty and discretion, the kind that signals professionalism rather than shyness. It’s the language of someone who wants you to trust him with sensitive relationships, even as he lets you know he has them.

Then comes the pivot: "but we work with nearly all the leading manufacturers of consumer products worldwide". The "but" is doing heavy lifting, turning restraint into a marketing flex. He won’t tell you who, because he can’t - and because he doesn’t need to. "Nearly all" is strategically elastic: big enough to impress, vague enough to avoid being pinned down. It’s reputation laundering by scale.

The closing clause is the real tell: "at quite a detailed engineering level". This isn’t just about having clients; it’s about being embedded in the machinery of how things get made. He’s not a surface-level supplier; he’s inside the process, close to the decisions that turn ideas into mass production. The phrase "quite a" adds a distinctly British-softened emphasis, understating expertise in a way that reads as confident rather than boastful.

Given Milne is labeled an artist, the quote lands as a quiet snapshot of early 20th-century creative identity shifting toward industry: the artist as technical collaborator, not solitary genius. It sells seriousness, reach, and precision - without the vulgarity of specifics.