Creative studio and portfolio of Prakash Nathan.
Projects
‘Nilaveli’ | creative direction/film/exhibit design
A project currently in development with British Pathé, repurposing their vast trove of archival footage in a bid to reimagine its use for contemporary audiences. I proposed an ultrawide (21:9), front and back projected film installation using a collection of both existing and repurposed archive. We ultimately created a series of short newsreel films in the style and tone of traditionally made Britsh Pathé documentaries at the time. The theme was focussed on the historic use of government propaganda routed in British colonialism, with a twist of sci-fi dystopia.
A preview exhibit was held at the Pitts-Rivers Museum in partnership with the Multaka Group in October 2024.
‘This immersive exhibit leverages cutting-edge visual projection technologies to create a fully enveloping experience. Utilising ultra-clear rear projections reflected onto vinyl covered flooring, achieving a seamless all-encompassing feel. Paired with almost overwhelming soundscapes, the installation delivers a multi-dimensional audio experience, with spatially dynamic scores enhancing the sense of presence.’
Full creative, artwork and design layout for the ‘Friends of the Earth’ graphic novel. Delivering a new approach in relaying the message of climate change to both contemporary and traditional audiences.
The challenge was to convey the urgency of the subject matter in a novel and noticeable way whilst not trivialising it. With storytelling again intended to be at the heart of the work, the final creative approach was modelled on classic manga design and it’s playful use of bold visuals, striking colour-ways and sharp, dialogue-based narratives to convey messaging related to contemporary social issues. Further examples of 2D animations such as ‘Shangri-La’, ‘Waltz with Bashir’ & ‘The Seeds’ were also especially influential in the final execution.
‘Friends of the Earth’ | creative direction/artwork/design
SFW ‘Re:Fashion Show’ 2024 | creative direction/film/exhibit design
This year I teamed up with Blenheim Palace and Cherwell Collective to design and build a full runway show and corresponding exhibit for Sustainable Fashion Week 2024, themed around the unremitting rise of fast fashion.
The initial brief was to recruit and direct a team of designers to produce a range of pieces falling within the underlying themes of ‘Repurpose, Repair and Reuse’. Each piece was carefully designed and crafted with the help of a team of local fashion schools and dressmakers. The runway itself was built within the beautiful confines of The Orangery in the grounds of Blenheim Palace.
Our interactive exhibit was mostly made up of recycled timber and discarded shop mannequins which were re-built and re-purposed to display a timeline of the history of fast fashion, from its inception during the industrial revolution through to today’s mass buy/return culture. The exhibit was designed as a catwalk for visitors to walk down and interact with the fabrics and materials as they go. It was held for the full week in the exterior gardens of Blenheim Palace.
My initial objective as Creative Director at Seafields was to create a contemporary and customisable brand that could be applied to all facets of their cutting edge work in the fields of carbon capture and ocean regeneration through the use of naturally occurring seaweed. The key was to make the relatively lofty subject matter comprehensible and even attractive to any potential partners and investors.
A singular art direction was applied to everything from design and photography through to our debut documentary feature and supporting immersive exhibit that was designed and built for COP28 in 2023.
COP27+28 | creative direction/film/exhibit design
‘RE:Suede’ | artwork/animation/design
Puma successfully turned an experimental version of its classic Suede sneaker into compost under certain tailor-made industrial conditions. The world’s first fully bio-degradable sneaker.
I worked with BBDO Germany to create several print executions (decompositions) that were focussed on the theme of organic produce and its popularity in today’s consumer choices. The eventual imagery that came to print was centred around shopping behaviours and featured in various DOOH locations across European markets.
‘Up in Smoke’ | creative/artwork/design
An OOH billboard campaign for the WWF, continuing their successful 2023 ‘Up In Smoke’ campaign.
The creative concept concerns the top five endangered animals list and their specific threats of extinction. The purpose of using exterior billboards was dependant on their positioning in busy, metropolitan areas, notorious for high levels of vehicle traffic. The black and white palettes were chosen to visually elevate the billboards from the often overly saturated, neon textures of built up city areas.
‘Streaks’ | creative/photography/design
Lucid released their Air Grand Touring range with the promise of a longer than ever before mileage range in the luxury electric car market, finally providing a solution to the long held ‘range anxiety’ experienced by potential EV customers.
The response was to illustrate this feature without showcasing the car itself. A bold approach considering roughly 90% of commercial car marketing features the product.
‘Tree to Glass’ | creative/design
A digital out of home campaign designed to be clear and concise in its messaging. The brief was to communicate the 100% natural ingredients that go into each bottle of Lemonaid, all sourced through Fair Trade initiatives.
We played on the popular ‘Farm to Table’ restaurant concept and illustrated x3 executions around the theme of organic growth, adding some simple, naturalistic movement initially using Runway ML’s paintbrush tool.
‘Drummer’ | film/artwork
Starting life as a traditional commercial film brief, I eventually went on to create the front facing design artwork for the new Acer Go range, with particular focus on the new OLED display and colour range. The visual approach was colour and dynamism hence the approach of paint filled drums!
The 30 second TV commercial was produced alongside three others with the same aesthetic and key visuals in mind. This particular spot features Jon Onabowu of the Jon Onabowu Quartet and was directed by myself.
Initial storyboards hand drawn, digital artwork generated on Midjourney with final treatment made on Photoshop.
