This autumn, Glow was approached to help develop a unique promotional artwork in collaboration with British designers Isabel + Helen for a prestigious Italian fashion house.
Isabel Gibson and Helen Chesner are a London-based design duo who share a passion for analogue design processes and simple kinetics. Since 2012, they have attracted widespread recognition for their experimental, engineered installations and animated sculptures. The talented duo was awarded the Madonnina Trophy for Milan’s Design Prize 2021 for ‘best design newcomer’ just two years after founding their studio. With their inspiring combination of materials and moving mechanisms, their work has attracted the attention of cultural institutions such as the Tate Modern and the V&A as well as many of the fashion world’s big hitters including Hermes and Dior.
Isabel + Helen explained that an element of play is integral to their design process. Their experimental approach using simple mechanics allows things to move and perform, abstracting the conventions of a famous brand in a fun and innovative way.
Most recently, luxury fashion house Bottega Veneta commissioned Isabel + Helen to create some short animations to promote their iconic premium quality handbags. This is when the team at Glow Inflatables was approached to make their designs become a three-dimensional animated reality.
The brief was to replicate three of the exclusive Bottega Veneta bag designs in inflatable form. The chosen pieces were oversized replicas of Daniel Lee’s much adored Cassette and Pouch bags. Excitingly, each bag was filmed as they inflated by award-winning director James Dougan who remarked “Always a fun day when you get to play with giant inflatable PVC handbags.”
Not only did the team at Glow supply the custom inflatables, we also provided the necessary props for the animated films which captured the real-time dynamic of each bag as it inflated. This had to be timed to perfection and filmed so the movement was the same in each inflatable and they were able to all pop up at the same time. The end result was a seemingly simplistic but actually rather complex installation that merged the boundaries of art and design.
The incredible results were featured in Vogue online, Designboom digital magazine as well as Bottega Veneta’s own publicity materials. Following this most successful collaboration, we look forward to working with Isabel + Helen on other projects in the future.