Design duo Studio Swine produces new sci-fi film

Anglo-Japanese design partnership Studio Swine has collaborated with Ridley Scott Associates director Juriaan Booij, to create a sci-fi art film exploring a fictional planet made entirely of crystal. The duo, made up of architect Azusa Murkami and artist Alexander Groves, has produced Terraforming, a Hollywood trailer-style short, following a commission for Swarovski designers of the future 2015 at Design Miami/Basel.

Citing Swarovski’s historic relationship with the silver screen as a major influence in the production of Terraforming, Studio Swine pays homage to sci-fi favourites such as 2001 and Solaris with polished reflections of modernism in space and sleek utopian set design.

“One of the things that most inspired us when we visited Swarovski’s production and archives in Wattens was the incredible history. From the rubies on Dorothy’s slippers in The Wizard of Oz to the necklace worn by Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, all are Swarovski and are still used in current movies,” says the duo.

Director, and regular Studio Swine collaborator, Juriaan continues to reference 1960s sci-fi cinematography with a combination of macro-shots and celestial landscapes as the film’s protagonist, a young cartographer, transformed the newly discovered crystal terrain.