Semi-Permanent 2010
Posted on 24. Aug, 2010 by Iain Malloy in C7 Posts, Design
Last Friday and Saturday, Kristin and I attended Semi-Permanent in Auckland. It was an intensive couple of days with some clear stand-outs and all superbly hosted by the very funny Te Radar.
So here are my thoughts from the conference, in order of appearance…
Jessica Hische
I really enjoyed Jessica’s presentation and work – she seems to have a great sense of humour and also clearly enjoys her work. It’s a good thing she is based in the States, which is big enough to handle her specialisation; I dare say that the NZ market wouldn’t be able to sustain that. See her work at jessicahische.com and also Daily Drop Cap
Karen Walker & Michail Gherman
Whilst this segment felt slightly flat, I got a lot out of Gherman’s offerings in particular – I found him engaging and intelligent. Much of what they have done makes really good business sense, not-to-mention Walker’s great fashion. See her work at Karen Walker.
Frost Design
Many were a tad disappointed that Vince Frost, the man behind the studio, wasn’t able to attend S-P. They were represented by high-energy environmental designer Sarah Estens. I was really impressed by the range of work that this multi-disciplinary studio creates and how they collaborate with others to get the work done. My favourite: their work for Mike Walsh’s Futuretainment Check out Frost Design.
Duncan Speakman
Duncan began his presentation by standing centre-stage and not saying a word; thus introducing himself as a man who works in the sonic realm. This was a highly engaging and fascinating part of the day, possibly because it was not strictly design-related. Duncan’s ideas and activities certainly got you thinking. See him at duncanspeakman.net
Andrew Gordon of Pixar
I am a huge fan of Pixar’s work, so was quite excited to hear from one of their animators; but to be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by this spot. It certainly had some interesting information, and seeing the ‘office’ setup at Pixar was a real insight. Maybe I was expecting a bit much? Pixar
Chris Allen of The Light Surgeons
I think I was tired by the time Chris came on and found that his section dragged a bit, although I was impressed by the multi-layered nature of their work. It was interesting to see the Light Surgeon’s progression from old-school analogue technology to new tech. Take a look at The Light Surgeons.
Dick and Otis Frizzell
What a great way to start day two. I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between father and son, and also gained a great insight into one of NZ’s best know artists. Otis was great and is quite a multi-talented, if lo-tech, artist.
Nicolas Roope of Poke London
Nicolas started slowly, but in the end this turned out to be one of the highlights of S-P for me. I was hugely impressed by Poke’s work and the way that Nicolas had structured his presentation. Their work on The Teen’s Speech, BakerTweet and for Orange is superb. Take a look at some of their other work at Poke London.
Katrin Sonnleitner
Probably the segment I got the least from, so I won’t say much more than that.
Adrian Shaughnessy
Adrian was like everyone’s favourite design professor. I really enjoyed his presentation and what he had to say about design and business. His 15 Paradoxes of design were spot-on. See more of Adrian’s work at Unit Editions.
Gareth O’Brien of Buck
Another engaging and entertaining presentation. Gareth was well prepared for S-P and showed of some fantastic work – all presented by his puppet Garrot. Seeing the lengths that Buck went to for their 30-second Sundance TVC was inspiring. See Gareth’s personal site Graffe or check out Buck.
Storm Thorgerson
Billed as the headline of S-P 2010, Storm did not disappoint! Being a fan of a number of the bands that he has designed album covers for (Pink Floyd, Muse, Peter Gabriel amongst others), I loved hearing his explanations of how they were developed. Everything was delivered with dry British humour and made for a fitting end to the conference. People will be talking for a long time about Storm’s “F*#k Avatar 4D Experiment” – where he had everyone in the audience hold kiwi-fruit halves up over their eyes for a mass photograph.
All up Semi-Permanent 2010 was well worth the trip and I came away inspired. A big shout out to the gang from The Church and all the sponsors for a well organised and executed event.