This multimedia exhibition will feature work by architects, artists and designers: Morgan Veness, Haruka Kokubu, Didier Ryan, German Perez Tavio, Malou Dunkley, Patrick Santamaria, Billy Ryan, Sam Painter.
Described as a ‘forecast of dream shapes from concept to reality’ which will explore ‘evolving shapes, surreal qualities, elevated perceptions and floating sensations’, the exhibition will include contributions from Australia, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Further information
Private viewing, RSVP to cloud4m@gmail.com for details of the event and location.

Emily Gobeille is an art director and designer currently working in the motion graphics industry. Her recent project, ‘Funky Forest’ is a immediately engaging, interactive and brightly-coloured experience.

Hong Kong designers bring a feast of world class design to London.

In a capital city famous for its long and all-embracing relationship with design, this celebration of the work of leading Hong Kong designers took place in three well-known venues - Harvey Nichols, a British department store in Knightsbridge (now owned by a Hong Kong enterprise), the Design Museum, and the London Business School.

The campaign entitled Creative Hong Kong in London, was launched at Harvey Nichols with a collaborative exhibition of ten world renowned brands and ten accomplished Hong Kong designers who drew inspiration for their designs from the 10th anniversary (1 July 2007) of Hong Kong’s reunification with China. Products designed included a Chinese dining setting, a hi-fi system, fashion accessories, a watch, and a unique ‘treasure box’. Designer/brand collaborations included Gary Chang and Alessi (Treasure Box for Urban Nomads), Vivienne Tam and Georg Jensen (8S), Barney Cheng and LeSportsac (Brilliant Beauty), Lo Chi Wing and KEF(Stringless Pleasure), Michael Young and o.d.m (Euclide), and Alan Chan and Salvatore Ferragamo (Hong Kong My Love). Limited edition products were also on sale.

Toygiants is a celebration of toys: the culture, the passion, the obsession.

Brittany Veitch is a young artist and toy designer with an eye for the macabre. Recently graduating with first class honours in Industrial Design from RMIT University in Melbourne, as well as having a Diploma of Furnishing, she is a great example of the transdisciplinary practice of many designers today. Creating her work with different media and practices from drawing, CAD, sewing, animation, video, to performance art and puppetry; she explores themes that are always a little left of centre.

In a recent issue, DG magazine online covered Studio Output’s interior design for Seven, a small hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Intrigued by their approach to this brief, we decided to take a closer look at the work done by this UK studio.

Warwick Baker is a young photographer on the rise, with fashion and portrait work, as well as an increasing music folio with an impressive list of clients including Cut Copy, My Disco, Gotye, Sarah Blasko, Claire Bowditch and Powderfinger. Kate McCurdy spoke to Warwick about what goes on behind the lens.

Warwick Baker is a young photographer on the rise, with fashion and portrait work, as well as an increasing music folio with an impressive list of clients including Cut Copy, My Disco, Gotye, Sarah Blasko, Claire Bowditch and Powderfinger. Kate McCurdy spoke to Warwick about what goes on behind the lens.

Why photography?
Warwick learned the social aspect, and the fun, of photography when he first studied it at Belconnon High School in Canberra, before moving to Melbourne to complete a BA in Photography at RMIT University. In addition to this, Warwick believes that he has learned more about photography from working part time at the Camera Exchange in Melbourne and from assisting Glasgow artist Paul Knight for two years.
Warwick recalls that he was first attracted to the camera because ‘it is like having a license or passport to anywhere you want to visit’. It also allows him to indulge his curiosity in human nature by allowing him to approach complete strangers on the street, who then consent to him photographing them in their home environment. ‘I could only do that being a photographer’, he acknowledges.

Film vs digital
Warwick shoots with both film and digital cameras, but will use them in different ways in different circumstances. When working for clients he says that he only shoots in digital because of its immediacy and its cost effectiveness. Alternatively, for his own projects he chooses film with a large format 5×4 inch camera ‘for its incredible detail and stillness’, as well as the nature of the photography itself.
‘I love the therapeutic process of using a large format camera and that every picture is considered. I also like the anticipation of waiting for the film to get processed,’ something that seems somewhat out of time in the digital age. Indeed, in the two weeks after Warwick bought a new digital camera he was astonished that he had pumped 10,000 frames through it; ‘I wouldn’t even do that in a year of shooting film.’

Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

The shoot
When preparing for a photo shoot, Warwick explains that this is where most of the work takes place.
‘There is always heaps of preproduction. Taking pictures is probably one-tenth of the process.’
He prefers to have a preconceived concept and structure behind it, and makes sure that the ideas are accepted by everyone involved before anything happens. With that security in place, Warwick does enjoy having an element of spontaneity and improvisation in the shoot, such as what happened on the shoot for Cut Copy’s In Ghost Colours album, as the two-day duration of the shoot allowed him the time and the freedom to experiment more with his subjects.
Most often Warwick has creative freedom with regards to the concept of the shoot, although it is always subject to the client’s approval. When working with bands, his inspiration comes from  extracting themes from the music, which was the case with My Disco’s album Paradise.
‘It is a very minimal, sparse and cinematic record so I wanted to have My Disco in the barren landscape looking very insignificant in contrast to the unforgiving landscape.’

The landscape, and indeed the whole environment in which he photographs someone, has a great effect on the atmosphere and mood of a shoot.
‘I’m really over the studio because it is a very lifeless and uninspiring place,’ he says. ‘It is so important that everyone is comfortable in the space where the pictures are being made.’

Introducing new characters
The concept for a series of promotional photographs for Belgian-Australian artist Gotye came from a discussion between Warwick and Wally de Backer (Gotye) about dream states in Where the Wild Things Are. Together they came up with the idea to include the darkly animated creatures from the Hearts a Mess video clip, by Brendan Cook, in the photos.
‘I was really excited because I am a great fan of Brendan’s clips and I have never added graphics before.’ The result is an exploration of a dreamscape, as the pajama-clad Gotye gives the photographs a sinister yet childlike quality.
While at this time not interested in venturing into the world of music video production, Warwick continues to create interesting artistic concepts for his work with musicians and bands, with a dream to one day photograph Nick Cave.
‘I would love to photograph [him] somewhere in the desert in South Australia or Western Australia,’ he describes. ‘I would like to present him as a lost, disillusioned and lonely explorer from the 1800s.’

Gotye

Creative influences
Warwick lists among his creative influences the work of Rineke Dijkstra, Alec South, Wolfgang Tillmans, Steven Shore, August Sander, Jacob Holdt, Robert Frank, Luc Delahaye and Paul Knight. ‘I also have a letter written to my grandfather by Max Dupain in 1939 in his Bond Street studio discussing surrealism that I find incredibly inspiring.’
While he doesn’t think that he has a particular style, Warwick says that he loves the ways in which the medium of photography allows him to explore new subjects, themes and aesthetics: ‘I look for subtlety and hidden elements when I am creating pictures.’

My Disco

Warwick has recently been involved in the I am Afraid exhibition at the Uber Gallery, portraits from which are currently hanging in Alter. He is currently working on a new body of work that will be published in a book by And Collective, Every place tells a story.

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In a recent issue, DG magazine online covered Studio Output’s interior design for Seven, a small hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Intrigued by their approach to this brief, we decided to take a closer look at the work done by this UK studio.

Ministry of Sound; Saturday Sessions Summer 2008 campaign, May

Studio Output (SO) was formed in the UK summer of 2002 by three partners: Dan Moore, Rob Coke and Ian Hambleton. Dan and Rob had formed the senior creative team at another small design agency in Nottingham – in the UK’s East Midlands – while Ian was a friend of theirs who had also been an occasional client. Feeling that it was time to branch out and try something that reflected their own values, Dan and Rob decided to go out on their own, with Ian looking after all of the non-design work.

A little history
Creative Director Rob and Art Director Dan are both originally from the suburbs of London. Rob studied a BTEC – the equivalent of a foundation but more vocational – in Design and Typography at the London College of Printing (now London College of Communication) and then moved up to Nottingham to study his degree. After graduating he started working for a friend at a local studio called Twelve:Ten. As the lead designer in a growing team, this was an exciting position, working quickly on a vast amount of club flyers and sleeves for small independent labels.
Around the same time, Dan had graduated from a Fine Art degree in Derby – Notttingham’s nearest neighbour – and started designing his own flyers when promoting and DJing at local clubs. He joined Twelve:Ten as a junior designer and quickly established himself as a brilliant all-rounder, and eventually the time came to leave and set up Studio Output.
Steve Payne, SO’s Senior Designer, joined the company in 2005 from another Nottingham agency, where he’d spent ten years working his way through the ranks from Junior Designer to Creative Director. At Studio Output, he has been able to work on more creatively rewarding work, offering him an outlet for his own brand of ‘creative weirdness’. Similarly, Stewart McMillan had been working on projects for ‘large yet dull’ clients at an events company before he joined Studio Output as Designer. Stewart began working in-house for SO at Ministry of Sound, and in June 2006 he joined Ian (Account Director) to set up the second studio in Clerkenwell, London.

Studio Output - Ministry of Sound, Genres

The work environment
The most unusual thing about the work environment at Studio Output is that it is spread across three sites; as well as the studios in Nottingham and Clerkenwell, there is a designer who is based in-house with their client Ministry of Sound who works with the internal marketing team under SO’s art direction to create all the campaigns required by the club and international tour schedule.
Management across the three sites aims for consistency, with the Studio Manager controlling the workflow via an online job-tracking system and constant communication about the status of jobs – an essential piece of organisation that allows SO to continue delivering to their client’s, and their own, satisfaction.

The essential open dialogue policy
The nature of the work at SO is so multi-disciplined that the designers aren’t divided into layout, typography or illustration, but rather they are expected to be able to combine all of these elements to answer the brief in the most innovative way.
SO has never employed account handlers, which results in the clients having an open dialogue with the creatives leading the project, or even the designers doing the day-to-day work.
‘This helps both parties to gain an understanding of each others’ aims and gets rid of the misinterpretation you can get from a longer chain of communication,’ SO explains, ‘we can only do this by employing well organised people, who thrive on the challenge of creative thinking, for each position and keeping them on top of their game through regular brainstorming, training and teambuilding.’

Studio Output - Ju$t Another Rich Kid Fall?winter

Creative collaborations
In the past, Studio Output have always tried to keep their creative process in-house where possible, employing designers with a range of skills to handle any project. However, on a few occasions this rule has been bent where they have commissioned illustrators such as Jon Burgerman, or worked with motion artists like Up the Resolution. They also have a reciprocal relationship with interactive agency AllofUS, who helped SO with their website in return for helping to bolster their knowledge of print design. Now that it has grown to the ‘right size’, SO are now also looking at pulling in more specialist expertise on a project by project basis.

Project highlight 1 - Bluu
A few of Studio Output’s stand-out campaigns are the work they have done for Bluu, BBC Radio 1, Seven and Ministry of Sound. The varied nature of the client’s work reflects SO’s versatility and ability to prove its design talent across media and design discipline. Studio Output’s collaborative work with Macaulay Sinclair for Bluu, an exclusive collection of bars, restaurants and basements in London, Manchester, Nottingham and Glasgow, displayed not only how well the company can work together with other creatives but also on a package for a client including a coordinated identity, print campaign and interior graphic scheme.

Project highlight 2 – BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio1, one of the company’s first clients, employs Studio Output on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis, following successful identity and marketing campaigns for One Live in Nottingham in 2002, and the more recent Miami Winter Music Conference and Radio 1 in Ibiza. Each project is assigned to one or two designers who will liaise directly with a corresponding member of the Radio 1 marketing team, in keeping with Studio Output’s policy for an open dialogue between creatives.

Studio Output - BBC 1Xtra

Project highlight 3 - Seven
In a recent issue, DG magazine online covered Studio Output’s interior design for Seven, a small hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Inspired by Thai culture as well as a theme of a room for every day of the week, SO created a stylish graphics package which included textile design for the bed linen, but which was also applied to other fixtures and furnishings throughout the hotel. The strong thematic approach SO took to the design, along with the distinct Thai influence, are key to Seven’s success in attracting young, professional tourists to the hotel.

Project highlight 4 – Ministry of Sound
Studio Output have been working with the flagship club since Spring 2005 when they were approached to pitch ideas for their London club and global tours; a relationship which has continued to flourish.
Keen to revitalise and reinvent their international identity, Ministry of Sound gave Studio Output a brief for their Summer 2005 Ibiza campaign. Studio Output responded by creating a series of images which allowed the recognised Ministry of Sound logo to appear in new locations, most memorably shaped by swimmers in a pool and in cloud patterns. After successfully helping the club to launch the new Friday nights concept ‘Switch’ and also develop a strong tour publicity campaign in 2006, Studio Output have most recently helped Ministry of Sound celebrate the return of summer in the UK with the bright and colourful Saturday Sessions Summer 2008 campaign.

Up ahead
Keep on the lookout for Studio Output’s graphics work on an exciting (and at time of publication, hush hush) new game for the PlayStation 3, as well as new projects with the BBC’s digital radio stations 1Xtra and Asian network.

Kate McCurdy

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Brittany Veitch is a young artist and toy designer with an eye for the macabre. Recently graduating with first class honours in Industrial Design from RMIT University in Melbourne, as well as having a Diploma of Furnishing, she is a great example of the transdisciplinary practice of many designers today. Creating her work with different media and practices from drawing, CAD, sewing, animation, video, to performance art and puppetry; she explores themes that are always a little left of centre.

A fairytale childhood
Much of her childhood years were spent in her mother’s toyshop ‘Hobbit House’, as well as playing with the family’s menagerie of pets at their home, including a deer, alpaca, turtles and quails. Brittany’s creations are often inspired by animals and their involvement in fairytales, as shown in her ‘Maimed Fairytale’ and ‘From the Woods’ collections. Although she has always marvelled at her sister’s vintage Steiff collection of toys - ‘I am particularly taken with a velvet zebra’ – it wasn’t until 2005 while studying Industrial Design that she began to make her own toys. Encouraged by working in an experimental studio in an open, supportive environment, at university she felt  unrestricted by traditional industrial design constraints and developed what became the ‘Maimed Fairytale’ collection, ‘in which the wounds inflicted on the toys are inspired by passages from the early editions of childhood fairytales.’

Maimed Fairytales

Toys from the dark side
Brittany sees her toys as art pieces, and hopes to have them exhibited and collected, rather than mass-produced for commercial gain. However, she delights in current trends in popular toy design and cartoons which delve into darker places in the name of fun.
‘I like that there is an alternative to the saccharine cute, for instance, Nathan Jurevicius’s ‘Scary Girl’, Amy Winfrey’s web cartoon ‘Making Fiends’ and the likes of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez. Within my work there is recognition and admiration for other artists and practitioners, and a combination of these influences plays a role in how my work evolves.’

Creative inspiration
Brittany other creative influences range from Hieronymus Bosch’s vivid and complex imagery; to the way that Hiraki Sawa’s video art uses scale within environment to mix fantasy with the banal; the eerie sculpture and rogue taxidermy of Elizabeth McGrath; to video visionary Chris Cunningham’s clashes of the horrific and the comical; as well as animator David Firth’s wry-humoured flash animations of strange and disturbing stories. Brittany recalls viewing Firth’s work was what prompted her to create her own animations.

Designing across media: with a needle and thread in hand
Brittany generates and refines her concepts using both the computer and pen and paper, most often by sketching out ideas on paper and then refining the patterns using software such as Adobe Illustrator. However some of her sewing work is done more on the fly, where aesthetic and structural decisions of a project can be made as it progresses. Brittany chooses to hand sew most of her creations, such as the ‘From the Woods’ collection, as it is an integral part of the process and aesthetic of the pieces, but other toys use a combination of machine stitching and hand sewn detailing.
The ‘From the Woods’ collection has recently caught the eye of the frontman of Finnish band HIM, Ville Valo, who made a special request to meet Brittany during the band’s recent tour of Australia and went home with a family of seven deer from the collection.

From the Woods, 'Stomach Flap' Materials: vinyl and felt.

Brittany also enjoys the freedom of working in animation.
‘Animation as an artistic medium is a blast to work with because it requires patience and dedication…at the moment I am working on a hand drawn paper animation that explores the relationship between a mute girl and a lump of coal and [explores] themes of reticence, melancholy and how companionship is formed.’ Brittany has also provided illustrations for magazines, and participated in a puppetry show in the 2007 Melbourne Fringe Festival. She also has a number of planned projects in the works, including a series of short videos of landscapes modelled in 3D CAD software, as well as a photography series exploring the cliché images of 1950s happy families using cast taxidermy forms disfigured with the plague.

PAPER JAM. Murderous office machinery versus office drones. Braden Keir, Ben Landau, James Secombe, Brittany Veitch.

Transdisciplinary practice
Brittany describes transdisciplinary practice as a ‘cross-pollination of skills and ideas. From this emerges a different way of thinking about design. I am comfortable being a transdisciplinary practitioner and will work on multiple projects focused on different skills and media as an effective motivational tool to produce a steady flow of work outcomes. Being able to switch from video to CAD to sewing is very liberating and enables a thorough investigation and exploration of ideas.’

Brittany’s advice for students planning on entering the design community, particularly that of industrial design, is to ‘get involved by entering competitions or by participating in collectives. Be active and open and never be afraid to experiment.’

Kate McCurdy

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