When Gush Mundae migrated to the UK from Delhi at the age of five, his journey began with a sense of displacement and quiet determination. The cultural shock was real, and the need to belong in an unfamiliar environment pushed him to carve out a space of his own. He soon discovered that success in this new world wouldn't be handed over — it had to be earned through hustle, creativity, and unyielding resilience.
Immersed in the vibrant and often chaotic emergence of hip-hop culture in the UK, Gush found his early voice in graffiti art. What started as youthful defiance became a vehicle of identity and expression. From dodging law enforcement to competing with rival crews, graffiti wasn’t just about visuals — it was a symbol of resistance, survival, and belonging. But behind this tumultuous passion was a budding artist with untapped potential, waiting for direction.
That direction came through a pivotal influence — an art teacher who recognized Gush's raw talent and nudged him toward graphic design. This unexpected guidance lit a path away from rebellion and toward purpose. Armed with creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit, Gush Mundae took a leap of faith in 1998. With only £2,000 of his own savings, he launched Bulletproof — a bold new branding agency aimed at redefining creative strategy.
Today, Bulletproof operates across global hubs including London, Amsterdam, New York, Sydney, Singapore, and Shanghai. The agency partners with powerhouse names like Cadbury, Football Association Wales, and Soapsmith. Bulletproof is more than just a company — for Gush, it’s the embodiment of his life’s mission.
Here, he shares five profound books that have illuminated his creative path, influenced his personal growth, and helped shape the identity of his global design agency. These works explore themes of artistry, resilience, physical vitality, cultural transformation, and human connection — and each has contributed to the man behind one of the world’s most respected creative brands.
The Book That Ignited a Passion for Typography and Rebellion
Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant
When it comes to influential creative literature, very few books hold the emotional, cultural, and artistic weight that Subway Art does. For Gush Mundae, founder of the global branding agency Bulletproof, this book was more than a printed volume — it was a catalytic force that transformed his entire creative ideology. Subway Art represents not just a window into the underground world of graffiti but also a foundational artifact that shaped his understanding of visual storytelling, cultural defiance, and identity through typography.
Originally published in the 1980s, Subway Art is a vivid, photo-rich chronicle of New York City’s revolutionary graffiti era. Through the lenses of Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, readers are transported into a world that vibrated with color, tension, rebellion, and unfiltered creative ambition. This was not art confined to galleries. This was art on the move — splashed across train carriages, tunnels, and steel. For Gush Mundae, this wasn’t simply inspirational. It was transformational.
Early Exposure to Visual Dissent
Growing up in the UK after emigrating from Delhi, Gush experienced what it meant to be an outsider — not just culturally, but creatively. The world he entered did not openly embrace difference. Instead, it challenged him to either conform or redefine the space around him. Enter graffiti. Unlike classroom textbooks and rigid education systems, graffiti offered a sanctuary where rules could be bent, even broken. It was a code, a language, a rebellion with its own rhythm.
Subway Art was the key that unlocked this world. As a teenager, Gush would devour its pages like scripture. The raw, unfiltered visuals captured more than just paint on metal. They portrayed a youth-driven movement that insisted on being seen and heard. In each photograph, Gush saw not just aesthetics but strategy — placement, spacing, line weight, color theory, message. Without ever stepping foot in New York, he was mentored by its anonymous art revolutionaries.
A Visual Language That Transcended Geography
Despite its hyper-local focus on New York’s transit system, the book had a global echo. Its pages made their way into bedrooms, studios, and sketchpads around the world, including Gush’s in the UK. The vibrancy of the pieces — the bold letterforms, the kinetic characters, the controlled chaos of wildstyle — connected deeply with him. These were not sterile corporate logos or traditional calligraphy forms. These were alive.
The impact was visceral. Gush began to experiment with tags, letterforms, and styles of his own, reinterpreting the visual chaos of Subway Art through his unique lens. Over time, his bedroom walls, schoolbooks, and sketchpads turned into evolving showcases of his fascination. He wasn’t just copying styles — he was developing his own visual dialect.
Typography became his secret weapon. Through graffiti, Gush discovered that type could evoke emotion, tension, rhythm, and personality. It could be subversive or celebratory, sharp or smooth, chaotic or calculated. This deepened his later approach to branding, where type is not merely decorative but deeply communicative.
Creativity Without Permission
One of the most influential takeaways from Subway Art was the idea that creativity does not require institutional validation. The graffiti artists featured in the book weren’t graduates of elite design schools. They weren’t backed by brands, galleries, or agencies. They were self-taught, self-funded, and often criminalized. Yet, their work carried undeniable impact and influence — far beyond what even they might have anticipated.
This renegade spirit planted a powerful seed in Gush's entrepreneurial mind: true innovation rarely waits for permission. When he later launched Bulletproof in 1998 with just £2,000 of personal savings, he wasn't merely opening a business — he was echoing the fearless spirit of the graffiti writers who climbed fences and dodged police to make their voices seen.
Like them, he wanted to rewrite rules. He wanted to show that world-class creativity could come from the margins — from those who weren’t invited into the traditional systems of power, but broke their own way in. That sense of self-belief, risk-taking, and defiance has become a defining trait of Bulletproof’s global presence today.
Influence on Design Systems and Brand Identity
What started as teenage tagging matured into a refined, strategic appreciation for typographic design, composition, and colour psychology. The same letterforms that once screamed from the sides of subway trains found their influence embedded in brand systems, packaging, and storytelling campaigns that Bulletproof now creates for Fortune 500 clients.
Every brand that Gush works on is approached with the same attention to line, flow, contrast, and space that graffiti taught him. Typography is not treated as filler text — it’s a design force, an emotional trigger, a rhythmic storyteller. His teams explore the DNA of each brand with forensic detail, ensuring that its voice is not just heard but felt.
From the perspective of visual branding, Subway Art provided a crash course in audience engagement. The writers in the book didn’t just paint for fun. They painted for legacy, for territorial claim, for emotional expression. They understood psychology, impact, repetition, and memorability — principles that lie at the heart of powerful branding even today.
Preservation of Cultural and Emotional Memory
Beyond the technical influence, Subway Art holds personal weight for Gush. It reminds him of who he was before he became a founder and global creative leader. It connects him to a time of unfiltered discovery, of sleepless nights sketching alphabets, of finding identity through ink and paint when words didn’t suffice.
Each dog-eared, doodle-filled copy of Subway Art serves as a time capsule. Gush has owned several versions over the years, and each is more than a book — it’s a layered diary of emotional evolution. In some margins are his first wildstyle attempts. In others, notes to himself, ideas, ambitions, fragments of thoughts that would eventually shape his ethos.
Even now, decades later, he returns to the book not out of nostalgia but as a source of continuous reflection. It reminds him that every creative endeavor — no matter how polished — starts with raw passion. It reminds him that risk, not comfort, breeds innovation.
Bridging Street Culture and High-Level Strategy
One of the most unique aspects of Gush’s journey is how he’s bridged two seemingly disparate worlds: street culture and high-level brand strategy. Where many professionals would distance themselves from graffiti roots to adopt a more conventional corporate persona, Gush has always leaned into his beginnings. His personal story gives depth to Bulletproof’s brand — making it more than a service provider, but a cultural interpreter.
Graffiti, and Subway Art specifically, taught him the value of narrative ownership. Just as those New York graffiti legends told their stories on subway cars, Gush helps brands tell theirs across packaging, digital touchpoints, and advertising. The medium has changed — but the mission remains similar: create meaning, spark emotion, demand attention.
This authenticity is one of the reasons Bulletproof has maintained long-term client relationships and continues to expand into new global markets. Clients are drawn not only to the agency’s creative output but to the integrity and raw energy behind it — much of which was seeded in the pages of Subway Art.
A Lasting Manifesto for Creative Freedom
Ultimately, Subway Art is not just a formative book for Gush Mundae — it’s an enduring manifesto for creative autonomy. It stands as proof that the most powerful art often emerges from the fringes. That rebellion can be productive. That form can coexist with chaos. That even illegal expression, when channeled with intent, can inform legal innovation.
For Gush, the book has never lost its relevance. Its impact is woven through every part of his creative process — from brand concepting and storytelling to studio culture and leadership. It’s a reminder that great design doesn’t come from trend-chasing or playing it safe. It comes from conviction, individuality, and the courage to be seen.
Today, as the creative industry becomes increasingly driven by data, automation, and aesthetic homogenization, the ethos of Subway Art becomes even more vital. It reminds designers, entrepreneurs, and creatives everywhere that rawness has value. That humanity should not be edited out of creativity. That the streets still have lessons worth learning.
Gush Mundae’s legacy continues to grow, but at its core remains a teenager with a sketchpad, lost in the kinetic beauty of letterforms and colour. And somewhere on his shelf — dog-eared, doodled, and deeply loved — Subway Art continues to whisper the words that started it all: create with heart, speak with style, and never ask for permission.
A Deep Dive into the Human Body-Mind Connection
Exercised: The Science of Physical Activity, Rest and Health by Daniel Lieberman
In the realm of branding, where innovation thrives on mental stamina, emotional nuance, and conceptual agility, physical well-being is often an afterthought. But for Gush Mundae, founder of Bulletproof, understanding the interplay between physiology and creativity has become an indispensable pursuit. This fascination led him to Exercised, a masterfully written book by Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman that dismantles myths about fitness while illuminating how evolution has sculpted human movement and rest.
Far from being a dry scientific tome, Exercised speaks directly to a high-functioning, idea-driven individual like Gush, offering insights that align with the demands of building a global creative agency. It explores how our bodies were designed over millennia, not for comfort, but for resilience, and how ignoring this truth in a modern world of desk jobs and digital dependence can quietly erode our vitality.
How Evolution Shapes Modern Performance
Daniel Lieberman’s work bridges the worlds of anthropology, biology, and behavioral science, unpacking what it truly means to move as a human being. His argument is both simple and revolutionary: the human body didn’t evolve to be exercised — it evolved to move as needed for survival, not recreation. This foundational concept recontextualizes everything we believe about fitness.
For Gush, who values performance optimization not only for himself but for the creative teams he leads, this concept struck a deep chord. The book explains that exercise, as we understand it today — regimented, scheduled, gym-based — is an invention of modern society, not a biological necessity. In ancestral terms, exertion had purpose: to find food, build shelter, protect the tribe. Movement was woven into the rhythm of daily life, and rest was a natural companion, not a luxury or indulgence.
Reading Exercised helped Gush reevaluate how he approached his own wellness routines. It wasn’t about punishing the body or chasing fitness fads but about reestablishing the harmony between rest, motion, and mindful living — a crucial framework for anyone tasked with sustaining long-term creative output.
Debunking Fitness Dogmas and Cultural Myths
One of the most impactful sections of Exercised explores how culture has shaped — and often distorted — our relationship with exercise. Lieberman tackles misconceptions such as "sitting is the new smoking," "8 hours of sleep is mandatory," or "everyone needs high-intensity workouts." Through empirical evidence and cross-cultural case studies, he reveals that these blanket statements often fail to consider the complexity of human variability.
For Gush, who operates across time zones and cultures, this nuanced view felt incredibly validating. His lifestyle doesn’t fit into rigid fitness molds, and Exercised gave him the scientific language to understand that this fluidity isn’t a failure — it’s biology. He discovered that fatigue isn't always a symptom of weakness; it's a feedback mechanism. That movement patterns don’t need to be extreme; they need to be sustainable.
The idea that exercise can be deeply personal — shaped by age, environment, ancestry, and emotional state — allowed Gush to craft a lifestyle more conducive to balance. He encourages the same flexible philosophy within Bulletproof, cultivating a work culture where energy management is prioritized over forced productivity, and where wellness is integrated into the rhythm of the day rather than treated as a peripheral concern.
Designing Creative Clarity Through Physical Awareness
The branding world is intense, often demanding ideas on demand, clarity under pressure, and imaginative solutions to high-stakes challenges. In such an environment, physical health is not a nice-to-have; it's foundational. Exercised reinforced for Gush that clarity of thought is deeply connected to physical movement — from walking meetings to quick posture resets, from deep breathing to structured rest.
Rather than viewing exercise as a separate obligation, Gush began to see it as an integral part of the creative cycle. Movement stimulates neurogenesis, improves memory, enhances mood, and most crucially for a branding expert — boosts pattern recognition and problem-solving abilities. The brain, after all, is an organ like any other, and its function is directly impacted by blood flow, oxygenation, and chemical balance — all of which are optimized through movement.
This realization transformed how Gush managed his schedule. Physical routines became rituals that bookmarked creative sprints. He made space not just for gym time, but for walks, stillness, light stretching, and digital detox moments. This holistic understanding empowered him to lead Bulletproof with greater empathy, encouraging a studio rhythm that ebbs and flows with human energy rather than against it.
The Creative Implications of Rest and Sleep
In our always-on culture, rest is often misunderstood as laziness or lack of ambition. Yet Exercised devotes critical attention to the science of sleep and downtime, revealing how they are not passive states but active recovery processes essential to both cognitive and physical rejuvenation. The myth that high achievers need less sleep is thoroughly dismantled.
This had a direct impact on how Gush approached his leadership style. Rather than glamorizing hustle culture, he began advocating for meaningful rest within his creative teams. Bulletproof adopted more fluid working hours, quiet zones, and mental health check-ins — practices grounded not in trendiness but in hard science.
Lieberman’s research made it clear that evolution intended for humans to oscillate between effort and ease. Our ancestors napped, walked, worked in bursts, and slept with sensitivity to seasonal light. They were in tune with circadian cues, hormonal shifts, and metabolic cycles. For Gush, the takeaway was transformative: creative excellence is not about constant output — it's about rhythmic engagement.
From Anthropology to Agency Life
One of the unique strengths of Exercised lies in its interdisciplinary approach. By drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, Lieberman introduces readers to tribal societies in Africa, South America, and Asia who live without gyms, running shoes, or performance trackers, yet maintain extraordinary levels of health, strength, and vitality. These communities illustrate how functionality can replace formal fitness.
For a global brand strategist like Gush, this global perspective was both familiar and invigorating. Operating studios in London, New York, Amsterdam, Sydney, Singapore, and Shanghai, Gush has always believed that understanding people — their values, habits, rhythms — is essential to authentic storytelling. Exercised reminded him that branding, like anthropology, must begin with empathy and observation.
By viewing health through the lens of cultural context, Gush refined his approach to brand identity as well. He now champions holistic branding strategies that prioritize wellness messaging with depth and realism — steering clear of gimmicky slogans in favor of meaningful, culturally aligned narratives. After all, brands that respect the human condition create more lasting emotional resonance.
Movement as a Metaphor for Innovation
Beyond the scientific findings, Exercised operates on a metaphorical level — portraying movement as symbolic of adaptability, progress, and curiosity. For someone like Gush, whose life trajectory moved from Delhi to the UK, from graffiti walls to global boardrooms, and from outsider status to industry authority, the book mirrored his own journey in kinetic form.
Every step, sprint, pause, or pivot in the book reflected a moment in Gush’s professional evolution. He saw in Lieberman's words a philosophy of innovation — that motion, both literal and metaphorical, is essential for growth. It’s no surprise then that Bulletproof’s ethos embraces movement: not just physical, but conceptual, cultural, and emotional.
Within agency life, this translated into agile workflows, cross-cultural brainstorming sessions, and a resistance to creative inertia. Gush learned that just as muscles atrophy without use, so does imagination. The lesson was simple yet profound: to remain innovative, you must remain in motion — not always fast, but always forward.
A Blueprint for Sustainable Creativity
In the end, Exercised did more than inform Gush Mundae — it empowered him. It gave scientific validity to instincts he had long held: that creativity and vitality are intertwined, that burnout is not a badge of honor, and that rest and movement are not opposites but allies.
The book became a blueprint for sustainable creativity — a way to lead, design, and innovate without sacrificing health or humanity. In an industry where deadlines loom and ideas are currency, Exercised offered a model for longevity, clarity, and continuous reinvention.
For the branding industry at large, Gush’s embrace of this philosophy sends a powerful message: the next wave of creative leadership won’t come from those who work the longest hours, but from those who work with the deepest awareness. Awareness of the body, the mind, the world — and how they dance together in the act of making something meaningful.
Hip-Hop’s Legacy Through the Lens of a Cultural Archivist
This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History by Chuck D
To understand Gush’s soul is to understand his reverence for hip-hop. More than a genre, hip-hop served as a spiritual compass during his most formative years. It gave him swagger when he had none, courage in the face of racial hostility, and an artistic framework that continues to shape his worldview.
This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History, authored by Chuck D — a pioneer of political rap and frontman of Public Enemy — is a timeline of rebellion, innovation, and lyrical genius. It chronicles significant events in rap’s history, spotlighting iconic artists, albums, battles, and cultural shifts. For Gush, every entry is a memory. Every lyric is a time capsule.
Flipping through the book, he’s transported back to long weekends hunting for rare 12-inch vinyls in Soho’s now-vanished record stores. He recalls DJing underground house parties, fuelled by basslines and braggadocio. It wasn’t just nostalgia; it was education. Through hip-hop, he learned rhythm, timing, flow — all transferable to the world of branding, where storytelling must be sharp, rhythmic, and impactful.
This book reaffirms what Gush already knew — that hip-hop is not just art; it’s architecture for modern identity, commerce, and innovation. It pulses through everything from sneaker design to visual language to brand voice — all elements central to Bulletproof’s cultural fluency.
Emotional Portraits of Humanity’s Unseen Strength
Humans by Brandon Stanton
For someone who once struggled with traditional reading due to poor schooling and early rebellion, Gush found solace in comic books — rich visuals, succinct narratives, and emotional resonance. Brandon Stanton’s Humans evokes a similar storytelling form, but instead of superheroes in capes, it highlights everyday people with extraordinary backstories.
The book captures real, unscripted voices from across the globe. Each photograph is paired with a short but compelling story — a moment in time that reveals a deeper truth. Stanton’s portraits are heartfelt, vulnerable, and universally relatable.
What resonated most with Gush is the democratic nature of this work. No one is filtered for fame or influence. People of all walks of life — immigrants, students, elderly dreamers, single parents — are granted dignity and attention. For a founder who has always believed in the power of untold stories, Humans reaffirmed his own values: that the most potent form of creativity comes from genuine human emotion.
The creative industry often prizes spectacle over substance, but Gush believes the future belongs to those who can create with empathy and insight. This book reminded him that listening is as vital as speaking — and in branding, listening to people’s stories is where the magic begins.
A Story of Grit, Innovation, and Global Impact
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Before Nike became a cultural juggernaut, it was a fragile startup navigating failures, lawsuits, and existential doubt. Shoe Dog is Phil Knight’s raw and unfiltered memoir of Nike’s formative years, and for Gush, it offered a mirror to his own entrepreneurial highs and lows.
Knight doesn’t write like a CEO. He writes like a man who’s been bruised, humbled, and reborn through adversity. The story follows his journey from selling shoes out of a car boot to redefining sportswear culture across continents. His narrative is void of vanity — instead, it’s filled with tension, compromise, luck, and relentless grit.
Gush was particularly moved by the emotional honesty in Knight’s storytelling. It reminded him that behind every iconic brand is a human story of risk, obsession, and belief. For Gush, who’s been obsessed with Nike ever since KRS-One rhymed about it in “Word from Our Sponsor,” the book only deepened his connection to the brand.
Shoe Dog also reinforced a core truth: that branding is not about logos or slogans. It's about purpose, consistency, and truth. That’s what Bulletproof has always stood for — building brands with soul, from the inside out.
From Spray Cans to Global Strategy
The trajectory of Gush Mundae’s life is anything but ordinary. From an immigrant child navigating identity crises to a graffiti enthusiast mastering wildstyle lettering, from teenage house parties to global brand campaigns — every chapter in his story is fuelled by a restless desire to create, connect, and conquer.
The books on his shelf are not simply recreational reads. They are philosophical blueprints, cultural artifacts, and mental fuel for a man who has always lived on the edges of convention. These titles each represent a pillar of his personal and professional journey: rebellion, resilience, clarity, empathy, and vision.
Through Bulletproof, Gush Mundae continues to translate these values into global brand narratives. He’s built an agency that doesn’t just follow trends — it crafts culture. And at the heart of this ongoing mission are stories — stories like the ones told in these five unforgettable books.
They are reminders that creativity is not just a skill. It’s a way of life.
Final Thoughts:
Gush Mundae’s story is a vivid tapestry woven from grit, imagination, rebellion, and empathy. It’s not just the tale of a young immigrant who made good — it’s a case study in how culture, adversity, and personal values can combine to forge a truly original creative identity. The books that line his shelf are not passive keepsakes. They are living, breathing companions — each one marking a milestone on his road from graffiti-covered alleyways to the helm of a globally recognized creative agency.
Every title reflects a different element of Gush’s multidimensional journey. Subway Art gave him a vocabulary before he knew what design language meant. It validated his love of typography and planted the seeds of visual storytelling. Exercised expanded his understanding of the human condition, reminding him that creative excellence is also a physical game — one that demands balance, rest, and self-awareness. This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History connected him to a global cultural movement that shaped his voice and worldview. It was more than music; it was a form of education and resilience.
Then there’s Humans — a celebration of lived experiences that echoes Gush’s own belief that every person has a story worth hearing. And Shoe Dog serves as both a cautionary tale and a creative manifesto, illustrating that world-changing brands are not born out of perfection, but out of purpose, persistence, and personal conviction.
Taken together, these books reflect not just Gush’s evolution as a creative leader but also his personal philosophy: that design is not surface-deep. It is driven by human truth, emotional resonance, cultural relevance, and an unwavering belief in originality. He doesn’t chase trends; he curates meaning. That’s the ethos behind Bulletproof, and it’s the standard by which he continues to operate.
As he looks ahead, Gush remains guided by the same fire that first drew him to graffiti — the hunger to express, to challenge, and to build something timeless. In a world increasingly defined by algorithmic thinking and fast content, his story — and the books that helped shape it — are a powerful reminder that real creativity is soulful, lived, and unapologetically human.
