Creative Lives

Our guest this week is Tristan Oliver, a cinematographer specialised in stop-frame animation, whose work includes shooting recent releases ‘Isle of Dogs’ by Wes Anderson, and ‘Loving Vincent’ by Dorota Kobiela.

Originally from Gravesend in Kent, Tristan moved to Bristol to study English and theatre at university, before going on to enrol at the local film school. He tells us how earning some well-regarded awards during his studies became the springboard for his work behind the camera; and what part Aardman Studios played in his development.

Tristan also describes the unique working processes behind both ‘Isle of Dogs’ and ‘Loving Vincent’, with insight into timelines, crew and set scale. Plus, he shares essential advice and practical tips on making first steps into the film industry.

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This episode of Creative Lives was brought to you by Lecture in Progress. It was presented by Indi Davies and the editor was Ivor Manly.

Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith and The Paul Smith Foundation.

This week, German reportage illustrator Oliver Kugler speaks with us from his shared studio space in east London. He describes the time-intensive process that goes into each commission.​

Olivier often travels far and wide to report on issues such as the food crisis in the Sahel of Burkina Faso, the lives of refugees in Kos, Greece, and veterinarian's work with elephants under threat of the logging industry in Laos. His illustrations rely on both journalistic observation and intricate drawing skills to tell a story, capturing his subjects from multiple angles, along with quotes and significant details revealing the context of their surroundings.

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This episode of Creative Lives was brought to you by Lecture in Progress. It was presented by Indi Davies and the editor was Ivor Manly.

Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith and The Paul Smith Foundation.

From a young age, Cai Lunn knew she wanted to work in fashion and publishing. Graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2013 with a BA in graphic design, Cai attributes the course’s broad curriculum with giving her the skills needed to eventually land her current role as the picture editor for British Vogue.

She talks us through a recent nightclub shoot for Versace, getting five supermodels ready in under two hours, and and how a blend of passion and persistence helped her climb the career ladder to become Vogue’s picture editor just five years after graduating.

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This episode of Creative Lives was was presented by Marianne Hanoun and the editor was Ivor Manly. Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith and The Paul Smith Foundation. Check out lectureinprogress.com for more details.

On the podcast this week, we catch up with creative director and co-founder of creative agency SuperImpose Studio, Ollie Olanipekun.

Set up just over three years ago in East London, Superimpose Studio was launched together with designer Toby Evans. Now with a full-time team of seven – often expanding to as many as 15 with freelancers – they have produced everything from events to brand launches for companies such as adidas and Burberry.

He fills us in on the things that have helped him most in his career – from nurturing longstanding client relationships to working with friends, and the importance of having patience with your own progress.

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This episode of Creative Lives was was presented by Indi Davies and the editor was Ivor Manly. Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith and The Paul Smith Foundation. Check out lectureinprogress.com for more details.

Our guest on the podcast this week is graphic designer Lucienne Roberts. In addition to running her own design studio, LucienneRoberts+, she is also the co-founder of GraphicDesign&, publishing books and curating events and exhibitions about graphic design in relation to all other subjects.

She talks us through her drama school background, how an interest in language has impacted her approach to work and the hopes she has for the upcoming generation of designers.

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This episode of Creative Lives was was presented by Indi Davies, the interviewer was Marianne Hanoun and the editor was Ivor Manly. Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith and The Paul Smith Foundation. Check out lectureinprogress.com for more details.

This edition of our Creative Lives podcast features an edit of a conversation recorded live between graphic designer Malcolm Garrett and Will Hudson. The discussion was part of an event that took place at G . F Smith’s Showspace in London, to coincide with Malcolm’s exhibition Orgasm Addict Reframed.

Raised in Cheshire, Malcolm grew up alongside fellow designers Peter Saville and Keith Breeden, who all simultaneously discovered graphic design as a career path during their school days. Studying in Manchester, Malcolm was still at college when he embarked on his love for punk culture and music.

Becoming embedded the UK’s early punk scene, it was during his second year of college, in 1977, that he created a record sleeve for the Buzzcocks, serving to kick-start his career in design. His work for music continued, and later became his passport to London from Manchester, once he’d graduated.

He speaks about how opportunities arose through relentless hard work and curiosity, and why he thinks you have make your own luck.

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This episode of Creative Lives was was presented by Indi Davies, the interviewer was Will Hudson and the editor was Ivor Manly. Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith, Squarespace and The Paul Smith Foundation. Check out lectureinprogress.com for more details.

Alex Norris is the cartoonist behind Web Comic Name – a deceptively simple, three-panel comic featuring a blobby pink character, always ending with the phrase, ‘Oh no’. Since launching in 2016, the daily web comic boasts over 175,000 followers on Instagram alone, and has spawned a legion of online fans. But it might surprise you to learn that Alex was not traditionally trained, taking an altogether different path to creating comics.​

He talks to us about what it’s like having your audience as your client, why accessibility is central to his practice, and his planned demise for Web Comic Name and its pink blobby hero.

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This episode of Creative Lives was was presented by Marianne Hanoun and the editor was Ivor Manly. Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith, Squarespace and The Paul Smith Foundation. Check out lectureinprogress.com for more details.

This week we speak to talent chief and brand manager Shannie Mears. Still only two years into her career in advertising, she has already co-founded her own agency, been invited to join panels and talk at numerous industry events, and was recently named one of BIMA’s top 100 talents of 2018.

Originally from Birmingham, Shannie started out in dance, earning a BA in dance and performance from Coventry University in 2015. It was here that she began to learn more about marketing, advertising and business – pursuits that she had previously considered too corporate to fit with her own interests. After being recommended a work placement with youth-led creative network Livity in London, Shannie made the move to the capital, where her eyes were opened to some of the city’s biggest creative companies.

Shannie tells us about her roles at both The Elephant Room and Guap Magazine, her passion for championing emerging talent, and how finding and using her voice has been so important to her progress. She also shares her recommendations for others just getting started, and thoughts on how to make the most of an internship.

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This episode of Creative Lives was was presented by Indi Davies and the editor was Ivor Manly. Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith, Squarespace and The Paul Smith Foundation. Check out lectureinprogress.com for more details.

Working with companies such as Dazed Media, Protein, Anyways and trend forecasting agency WGSN, freelance brand strategist Joss Debae is brought in on a project basis, helping to develop objectives to crack a brief, or build growth strategies for brands often in the fashion, sportswear, luxury or retail sector, previously including Nike, Adidas, Selfridges and Sony.

But brand strategy wasn’t a job that Joss actively pursued as a fresh graduate. Completing a BA in product design at Central Saint Martins in 2007, he admits leaving the course disillusioned and unsure of his next steps. Through work at the college’s internal design laboratory, and founding a creative collective with his former classmates, Joss eventually found himself in the world of trend forecasting, going on to work for companies such as Global Colour Research and The Future Laboratory.

Self-employed for most of his career, Joss tells us how he’s managed to shed freelance guilt and train himself out of overworking, and why he feels companies need strategists from a range of backgrounds.

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This episode of Creative Lives was was presented by Indi Davies and the editor was Ivor Manly. Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith, Squarespace and The Paul Smith Foundation. Check out lectureinprogress.com for more details.

As something of an icon in the field of graphic design, Jonathan Barnbrook is a British-born designer and typographer. Renowned, among many other things, for his longstanding collaboration with the late David Bowie, he has been the subject of his own exhibition at the Design Museum and seen his typeface, Mason, become one of MOMA’s first digital acquisitions.

Founding his self-titled design studio in 1990 and font company VirusFonts in 1997, Jonathan’s multi-faceted practice has granted him glimpses into several other fields, perhaps most notably in art and music. His work, often politically-charged and meaningfully-driven, has attracted him to like-minded collaborators including anti-corporate collective Adbusters and the Occupy Movement.

Reflecting on his own career challenges, he shares his advice for emerging creatives on everything from finding like-minded collaborators, to putting together a personable portfolio and developing your own philosophy as a designer.

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This episode of Creative Lives was was presented by Marianne Hanoun and the editor was Ivor Manly. Lecture in Progress is made possible with the support of a number of brand patrons – they include ustwo, GF Smith, Squarespace and The Paul Smith Foundation. Check out lectureinprogress.com for more details.