About me
Woodstock based production designer, art director, props master, set dresser, graphic designer, illustrator and artist committed to realizing the highest production values possible. An enthusiastic collaborator, passionate about production design and costume to create an effective look and feel. Strengths include pre-production planning from design concept, research, buying, fabricating, dressing to a high competency in presentation. Visualising set elements in spaces and lighting states and from different perspectives. Communication skills are honed, deftly seeking understanding to conceive the visual world needed. A strong work ethic and 100% commitment to any project brings satisfaction. Working from Cape Town, London, New York & Los Angeles has added insight behind the scenes from script to strike and from inspiration to exhibition. Readings of the script are paired with equally practical & efficient design and implementation for the high and low moments.
From a financial perspective, responsibilities have included: TV Commercial art department, feature props & Handspring Puppet Company's international tour budgeting as well as financial oversight of Artichoke & Hot Tuna, treasury of the Association of Visual Arts and registering & running my studio as a Pty ltd. All this has contributed to a broad financial management skillset. Tasks are always undertaken with precision. Nilsen-Misra Studio, established in 2014 next to the Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, serves as workshop, store and office and can accommodate a team in comfort with secure overnight parking. Relevant HOD art department experience includes a couple of international tv commercials (as production designer and art director) and props master on a feature. As senior set dressing buyer I worked with the then Oscar reigning production designer, Colin Gibson, as props & dressing buyer with many other designers and art directors. A home in the creative industry since graduation, cum laude in Production Design & Fine Art, has refined the knowledge of contemporary visual culture and revolving style periods. Aims are always made to enrich the storytelling timescape to clearly express purpose, enable auspiciousness and inform subtext.
Set & Graphic design skills range from architectural plans, signage, product design, posters, corporate Identity, booklets, maps & newsletters. Familiar faces at the various industry printers help add speed to each print. Illustration for film ranges from chalkboard signage, digital illustration, mural painting to ink sketches. Thirteen years in Cape Town has given a knowledge of the greater metro, from top draw grandeur to ghetto. A keen sense of direction, experience of traffic congestion and alternative routes has increased productivity. Working at Artichoke & Hot Tuna led to an understanding of the ins & outs of prop houses and their collections and a little knack of finding things lost, whilst providing a welcoming space to connect. Since 2014, the Woodstock studio continues serve as creative home for the work.
Skills
Art Direction, drawing, production design, Prop Master, set decoration, set dressing, Theatrical Property
Sector Experience
Advertising, Cinema, Fine Art, Painting & Sculpture, Television
Clients
Africa Film Services, Film Afrika, Orange films, Smoking Gun Productions, south african broadcasting commission, sunshine coast studios, Two Oceans Productions