Designers & Makers of Theatrical Photo Sets: Wedding & Corporate Hire in UK and Beyond.
We’ve had the pleasure of working at some of the most grand and beautiful venues over the years. If you asked which has been the most prestigious, the answer would have to be Buckingham Palace.
We didn’t need to create a backdrop for this photo set because sometimes you just can’t beat the real thing!
Not often do you get to play in the Queen’s back garden! What an oasis of tranquility it is.
Considering our photo sets have been described as ‘magnificent, opulent, lavish and splendid’, it’s really no wonder we were booked to help launch a new exhibition at the V&A called…. wait for it, ‘What is Luxury?’.
As the answer to this question is surely subjective, it might be easier to ask how is luxury created? Here’s what the V&A has to say about this:
Making luxury is not concerned with practical solutions but with the extraordinary, non-essential and exclusive.”
By this definition the PopUp Photo Parlour truly is a non-essential self-indulgene. A joyful folly. We create spaces which inspire people to play. And every photo we take tells a story. A mini popup production, if you like.
Part of the design brief was inspired by one story in the exhibition which recounts the tale of Elizabeth Taylor who received a ring featuring a very large diamond from her husband Richard Burton – one of the many such jewels she wore casually, for instance whilst sunbathing or cracking crab claws.
The late Princess Margaret acidly remarked on how vulgar the ring was. Taylor took it off and put it on the princess’s finger: “Not so vulgar now, is it?” she remarked.
This story reflects the connection between conventional luxury, social competition and the cultural distance between established elites and newly emerging ones. It is a narrative that has continued through to modern day with the rise of Bling culture.
‘Focusing on the almost grotesque version of luxury that permeates modern life’, was our brief. People having fun in our parlour… Priceless!
A number of years ago Betsy and I were enjoying a glass of wine when the following question popped up, ‘What would be our ultimate artistic endeavour?’
We both agreed it would be to work with Ott.
Ott’s music has become the sound track to our sweet lives together over the last ten years. His music is so wonderfully joyful; it creates the perfect soundscape when we’re designing new photo sets and props.
Last summer we went to Sunrise Festival, where the mighty Ott was playing. In a nutshell we bumped into him and after the festival he happened to stumble across our website.
I wish I could bottle the feeling when we received his email, asking us if we would be interested in creating some artwork for him.
Betsy and I were hovering about 3 inches off the ground. Probably.
Here’s a little film showing you some behind the scenes footage of how we put this project together: