Playtexts don’t often elicit emotional responses, but when this London-based designer saw his written script for the Royal Court Theatre production of Constellations back in 2013, his heart may well have skipped a beat or two. There at the start of the document he stared at was the declaration “a change in font, indicates a […]
Colors are the smiles of nature. So said the English poet Leigh Hunt. Pity he left us in 1859. Had he been around in this age of LED technology, he would have seen that smile radiate in unimaginable new ways. Of course, you don’t have to be a poet to have your heart and imagination […]
Describing it as the “sweat of the sun,” the Incas revered gold as far more than a symbol of wealth and power. To them, the glittering metal was a gift bestowed directly from the gods that radiated mystical, restorative powers from its shimmering surface. An ancient myth? Perhaps. Still, it’s one that visitors to Machu […]
It isn’t listed in the credits, but the beautiful city of Los Angeles skyline with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background played a key supporting role in the widely acclaimed HBO Original Series Insecure. Many of the most memorable scenes in the multiple Primetime Emmy Award winning show, took place against this iconic backdrop. […]
Things have happened fast in the young career of this Chicago-based lighting and production designer. In 2013, while still a senior in high school, he created the lightshow for Chance The Rapper’s Social Experiment Tour. He hasn’t looked back since. Following this early success, he’s gone on to work for stars like Jennifer Hudson, Billie […]
Étienne de Silhouette was not an artist or a designer of any kind. He was, actually, a profoundly unpopular and penny-pinching controller-general of finances under Louis XV in 18th century France. However, he did lend his name to the process of outlining a person or object in a single color against a plain background a […]
At the start of every project, this award-winning Montreal-based designer will spend hours immersing himself in the music of his client. As each song plays over and over again, he will not only listen for the melodious cues that will ultimately be reflected in his lighting design, he will also be striving to enter the […]
At its best, live music, particularly rock and roll, is driven by a deep personal connection between fans and the artist on stage. TV viewers who tuned into HBO’s recent broadcast of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony were reminded of this time and again during the broadcast, even though the event […]
What’s in a name? When it comes to restaurants and clubs, sometimes not very much, other than a clever marketing phrase meant to entice customers. At other times, though a moniker can reveal something deeper and more meaningful about an establishment’s way of doing business. Such is the case at Lakaz. Located in the […]
Asked what he likes most about his profession, this award-winning designer quickly points to something that is also among his least favorite things: travel. Crisscrossing the globe on projects, is, he admits, exhausting. But, as he sees it, any road weariness is more than made up for by the experiences he collects along the way. […]
“Mighty is geometry! wrote Euripides. The ancient Greek dramatist lived long before anyone ever thought of creating a lighting fixture, but he undoubtably would have appreciated the way this Slovenia-based designer transforms stages and broadcast sets with powerful geometric configurations. In his work, Birsa relies on much more than brightness, shadows and color to engage […]
In 1796, French troops, retreating through the Black Forest’s steep Ravenna Gorge called the area “Höllental” (Hells Gorge). Although the nickname survives to this day, it had more to do with the army’s predicament than with this picturesque corner of southwest Germany. In actuality, the terrain is quite paradisal with its thickly wooded cliff, streams, […]