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Championing creativity

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S1_main — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Penelopiad*

S2_right — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Penelopiad*

S3_left — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Penelopiad*

Cn1 — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Tenth Cranial Nerve*

Cn2 — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Tenth Cranial Nerve*

Cn3 — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Tenth Cranial Nerve*

Cn4 — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Tenth Cranial Nerve*

Skin3 — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Chimera*

Skin6 — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Chimera*

Skin8 — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Chimera*

Sh_void_08-11_01c — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Penelopiad*

Shppfuryvoid--01 — Lightning + Kinglyface: *Void*

Work / Set Design

Lightning + Kinglyface

Words by Rob Alderson, Thursday 15 March 2012

Amazingly-named set designers Lightning + Kinglyface, aka Anna Fulmine and Victoria Shahrokh have just unveiled their brand spanking new website and my goodness it’s a thing of some beauty. The dynamic duo have a wonderfully atmospheric style, creating thoughtful, intriguing and frequently unsettling pieces (a stretched canvas of “human skin” anyone?) for a whole host of top-notch clients. Their new site not only looks good, but manages to do justice to their craft, which can sometimes get lost in translation online.

www.lightningandkinglyface.co.uk

Words by Rob Alderson, Thursday 15 March 2012

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Rachel Louise Hodgson’s drawings challenge traditional ideals of beauty 15 June 2018
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Friday Mixtape: a collection of hits from music focused design studio Lost Art 15 June 2018
Khichdi (Kitchari) brings together 846 photographs of India, and its people, taken over ten years 15 June 2018
Offshore Studio's Christoph Miler reveals the ideas behind Migrant Journal 14 June 2018

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Work / Photography Benedict Morgan exposes the trickery of a photography set in his Tableware series with Lisa Jahovic

There’s always something intriguing about how a visual illusion is performed, and it’s our curiosity towards such trickery that photographer Benedict Morgan has been investigating for years now. His latest personal work to do so is Tableware, a set of images revealing the “truths” of a photography set. Each shot – co-created with set designer Lisa Jahovic – is split in half, the top showing a printed photograph, the bottom showing the set in real life, immaculately sewn together in-camera. The results make anyone want to look closer.

Jenny Brewer — 21 May 2018
Work / Set Design Nico Krijno's new work steps into energetic and chaotic set design

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Lucy Bourton — 10 January 2018
Work / Set Design New Studio's diverse editorial work for The New York Times Magazine

Derek Brahney set up his studio in Brooklyn after working freelance for a few years as a way to officially separate his commercial work from his artistic practice. “I had gotten to the point where I could finally (barely) afford to rent a small studio space, which felt like somewhat of a milestone,” Derek explains. So when he acquired his new studio he decided to celebrate the fact and name it New Studio, of course.

Ruby Boddington — 13 December 2017
Work / Set Design Thomas Petherick and Georgia Pendlebury explore the sculptural quality of clothes for Novembre Magazine

“When I was a student, I met someone that was studying set design and remember thinking, ‘how boring, I couldn’t think of anything worse’,” explains London-based set designer, Thomas Petherick, “ten years later, here I am and it couldn’t be any less boring!”

Ruby Boddington — 08 November 2017
Work / Set Design Michela Natella’s hyperreal world and stand-out set designs for Toilet Paper Magazine

The hyperreal world is where Michela Natella spends her time, sifting between a colourful land that makes you question what is real and what is purely imagined. Having spent the last 10 years in set design, this area of practice is her most crafted and defined, stemming from a hugely creative background and hands-on approach.

Ayla Angelos — 06 September 2017
Features / Set Design Set designer Gary Card on the importance of being a chameleon

“This is, I think, the generation of the polymath. Everyone’s a polymath! It’s a word that’s thrown at me quite a lot.” Meet Gary Card, a multi-talented set designer, illustrator, artist, and lately, sculptor. Adaptability is part of the territory for a set designer. “Every day is completely different. It’s a great thing being a set designer: you’re constantly making new things, you’re constantly shifting. By our very nature we have to be chameleons to be able to apply a brand new set of skills to each job.”

Bryony Stone — 22 February 2017

Work / Art Rachel Louise Hodgson’s drawings challenge traditional ideals of beauty

Rachel Louise Hodgson’s drawings break from the ordinary. Their bright, sickly colours unsettle the viewer, challenging traditional conceptions of beauty. Rachel initially studied fashion photography at The London College of Fashion; where she tells It’s Nice That, “the teachers never understood my work, I stuck out and received a terrible grade”.

Emma Latham Phillips — 15 June 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Sam Conniff rouses the Nicer Tuesdays audience to Be More Pirate

In past lives, Sam Conniff was the founder of creative network Livity and media platform Don’t Panic, but recently he’s gone rogue with a new mission: to encourage everyone to Be More Pirate. Born from research into the radical strategies of Golden Age pirates, his new ethos and book of the same name (with an added explanatory strapline “Or How to Take On The World And Win”) adapts these strategies for 21st Century work and life, and aligns them with modern day innovators or “rebels” like Elon Musk and Malala Yousafzai.

It's Nice That — 15 June 2018
Work / Publication Koln Studio designs artist's catalogue using improvisation and fun

The work of Spanish artist, Eloy Arribas is energetic, using a multitude of materials and lines to explore the representation of an object and the materiality of the object itself. In their production, his paintings are “almost paleontological”, revealing themselves in a sporadic fashion to him as he works. It’s only right, therefore, that the catalogue to accompany his recent exhibition Niño Fósil / Fruta de Piedra reflected his energy and spontaneity.

Ruby Boddington — 15 June 2018
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: a collection of hits from music focused design studio Lost Art

This week’s Friday Mixtape is by Chris Hopkins, the creative director of Melbourne based studio Lost Art. The studio’s portfolio is full of amazing music campaigns, from creating artwork for The Avalanches for nine years and, more recently, working with Phoenix and David Byrne!

Lucy Bourton — 15 June 2018
Features / Publication Khichdi (Kitchari) brings together 846 photographs of India, and its people, taken over ten years

“I’m the first one in my family to be born outside of India so I’ve been travelling there my whole life,” American-born visual artist, Nick Sethi tells It’s Nice That. Having grown up in Floria, his family moved to India for a year in 2007 when he was 17. Despite his heritage, Sethi didn’t grow up speaking Hindi and so the move confronted him with things he didn’t understand but things he wanted to explore further nonetheless. “I started using photography as a way to interact with the country and people,” Sethi recalls. “2007 was a pre-mobile phone and selfie era so having your photograph taken was a bit more special, especially in a country like India.” It was during this trip that Sethi unknowingly began a decade-long project; one that charts the rapidly changing identity of a country through its people and their relationship to technology, gender and the influx of Western culture.

Ruby Boddington — 15 June 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Offshore Studio's Christoph Miler reveals the ideas behind Migrant Journal

Zurich-based graphic design studio Offshore is one of It’s Nice That’s Ones to Watch 2018 and with good reason. Founders Christoph Miler and Isabel Seiffert are behind the design of Migrant Journal, for which the duo created a bespoke typeface and visually arresting design. Politically conscious, sensitive and striking all at the same time, it sums up the designers’ capability way beyond their years.

It's Nice That — 14 June 2018

Work / Illustration Benedikt Rugar’s illustrations for the German Design Glossary use elements of the surreal to tell a visual story

“I like to keep an open mind towards the ideas that I am asked to illustrate,” German illustrator Benedikt Rugar tells It’s Nice That, of his latest project with Lambl / Homburger studio for the German Design Glossary. “It’s how I usually like to work: first to sketch out what spontaneously comes to my mind in relation to the brief, and then to grow on this with the help of my image research so that I can gain confidence on the subject. It’s very important to start with these rough sketches so that I don’t get lost in the research later,” Benedikt explains.

Laura Isabella — 14 June 2018
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Work / Publication Chris Harnan's World Problem Solution Book is a diary, but not in the traditional sense

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Ruby Boddington — 14 June 2018
Work / Animation Greg Sharp animates a video that builds in momentum for the catchiest song of the year

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Lucy Bourton — 14 June 2018
Regulars / The Graduates 2018 All internships are not created equal: how to spot the best opportunities and have the courage to reject the duds

Back in March Amalia Illgner wrote a long read on The Guardian describing why she is suing Monocle over her “dream internship”. The article pinpointed many of the issues of internships and how it “excludes the less privileged from the arts, media and politics”. Below, Amalia talks of her experience and the research she has found on the creative industries, providing some golden rules that graduates should be aware of.

Amalia Illgner — 14 June 2018

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Jenny Brewer — 14 June 2018
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It's Nice That — 13 June 2018
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Jenny Brewer — 13 June 2018
Work / Illustration Take a trip inside the cutely sinister world of illustrator Pablo Orrego

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Work / Publication Why counter-culture matters: Rough Trade launches publishing venture designed by Craig Oldham

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Regulars / Printed Pages Cover Stories: The Guardian's Chris Clarke on the magazine covers that influenced him and his work

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Jenny Brewer — 13 June 2018
Work / Publication Charlotte Wales and Chopova Lowena combine 80s wrestling and Bulgarian folklore in Kukeri

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Ellie Robertson — 12 June 2018
Work / Digital Pitch Studios creates mesmerising, immersive digital experiences which invoke unique moods

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Emma Latham Phillips — 12 June 2018
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It's Nice That — 12 June 2018
Work / Photography Sarah Pannell’s photography captures the places where people and landscapes interact

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Laura Isabella — 12 June 2018
Work / Graphic Design Graphic designer Cécile Legnaghi questions the role of display and caption fonts in her practice

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Ruby Boddington — 12 June 2018

Work / Graphic Design Yale graduate and communications designer Polina Vasilyeva is a conductor of content

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Lucy Bourton — 12 June 2018
Work / Photography Tom Ordoyno's diverse photography captures moments we might otherwise miss

“The only real process [I have] is the camera and the darkroom,” London-based medium-format photographer Tom Ordoyno tells us, wryly. “In terms of taking pictures, I try to forget everything. Engage with what’s in front of me, and try to communicate an idea in the fewest steps.”

Laura Isabella — 12 June 2018
Sponsored / Miscellaneous Explore London’s diverse music scene through film, graphic design and photography sessions with Apple

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Sponsored content — 12 June 2018
Work / Photography Robert Darch explores identity and nostalgia through the fictitious town of Durlescombe

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Ruby Boddington — 12 June 2018
Work / Film Querida create a feminine fashion film by utilising the incredible architecture in an artist's house

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Lucy Bourton — 11 June 2018
Work / Animation Nexus Studios' charming short for Google I/O animates what happens when pixels work together

For the second year in a row, Fx Goby, a director at Nexus Studios, has created the opening animated short for the Google I/O conference. Taking place annually in California, the conference brings together developers from around the world to celebrate their work and contributions to the technologies we use and will continue to use in the future.

Ruby Boddington — 11 June 2018

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