Not Just Pretty - Designing with Values

Pretty is easy. Purposeful is harder. But that’s the only kind of design I know.

Over the years, across films, fashion, lifestyle campaigns, and last-minute digital shoots, I’ve realised that visuals stick not because they’re styled well, but because they’re felt. You don’t remember a perfectly placed fork; you remember how that frame made you feel. And for me, that feeling starts long before a camera is switched on.

Ensuring the details fit just right for the National Diamond Council

My process is altered depending on the scale. Films gave me time to read, research and dive into the world of the story. I once spent a day getting a 90's number plate just right because - yes, that kind of detail matters! In contrast, editorial and branded content come with faster turnarounds. These days, most briefs land on WhatsApp - timelines are tight, references are quick, and expectations are high. I do a rough sketch based on the brief, speak to my set dada (he’s my build brain) and if things look doable within the estimated budgets, we block dates, design the moodboards, proposal decks and I begin the design journey.

My journey includes everything from concept building and sizing to sourcing props from dusty corners of prop shops. It’s also about negotiating practicalities with intention, knowing when to say yes, when to say no, when to add, when to subtract and most importantly, when to pause and rethink. To me, design with values is more important than delivering what is asked because my experience has taught me that purposeful concepts last longer than delivered concepts. That thread runs through everything: from choosing chemical-free paints, to saving fabric cuttings for reuse, to making sure food used in frames is untouched and later distributed across set.

I'd like to believe that there is a calm I bring to chaotic shoot days. Maybe it’s the years of doing this, or maybe it’s my need for spaces to look and feel perfect, even when they’re built in 12 hours. Nothing is placed just for effect. If there’s a banana leaf on the table, there’s a contextual reason behind it. If something is off-centre, there’s intention behind that too.

Surrealism isn’t about escaping reality. It’s about gently bending the rules of what our naked eye can see. It is about refocusing on colour, texture, curation, pairings and detail from a different lens, until the frame feels like a dream you almost remember.

So yes, everything may look pretty. But only because it was built with heart, thought through with intent and executed with a sense of fulfilling a purpose.