Catching up - Tilted Acres

So I've had some time out from Set design but I'm back in the game and back on the blog.

Thought I would upload a few of the projects I have worked on since my last post many moons ago! Press shots for Tilted Acres. One of Two bands I joined for in 2013. Such a fun shoot! Not making music any more but still full time friends. Photographed by Owen Richards Set design by Me

'The Cosmic Puppets' by Julia Hetta for Dazed & Confused

Shot In April, the concept behind this shoot was 'Lo-Fi Sci-fi' for Junes 'Intergalactic' issue of Dazed & Confused magazine. Rhea was asked to created some head pieces and armour for a minimal set to be shot in Black and White. It was really fun experimenting and working with aluminium sheet metal to make some of the head pieces, something I had wanted to try out for a while.

Photographer Julia Hetta recounts the shoot to the magazine - "We wanted to work with sci-fi lo-fi and we brought in set-designer Rhea Thierstein to the project. She came up with the helmets, silver elements and everything else. The shooting was just a pleasure for me with such a great team. My sci-fi interest is growing each day-it's a new world for me." 

We got quite carried away and made too many pieces ( you can see some of the ones that didn't get used here!) but we had fun making everything and the final shoot looks great. Photography by Julia Hetta, Prop and Set design by Rhea Thierstein, Styling by Mattias Karlsson.

 

Bompass & Parr's 'Culinary Odyssey'

This was back in March and has easily been my favourite project I have worked on for Rhea. An event to promote KitchenAid products inspired by food and drink from science fiction books and films. Not only that, but the concept came from none other than Bompas & Parr who's creativity and straight up eccentricity I have admired since I came accross their architectural jellies back in 2008.
There were 7 areas to design;
Insect Protein, serving insect protein pasta inspired by Brian David Johnson's 2013 Food of the Future (out next year!)
Ice cream from the Howard Johnson Earthlight Room, serving smoked Bourbon ice cream. Inspired by Stanley Kubrick's 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey
Levitating Meringue, literally levitating food, crazy! 'Spook' Inspired by Jeff Noon's 1998 Solace
Bioluminescent Lollies, inspired by Bruce Sterling's 1988 Islands in the Net
Sugar In The Air, Breath in the flavour! Inspired by E.C. Large's 1939 Sugar in the Air. A Romance
Food Pills, Machine mixed sherbets with micro-encapsulated flavours, inspired by George Pal's 1955 Conquest of Space
And the main attraction of the evening, Planetary Bar which was serving the following drinks;
Milk Plus - Khat Milk inspired by Anthony Burgess's 1962 Clockwork Orange
Nourishment Inspired by Roger Vadim's 1968 Barbarella
Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster inspired by Douglas Adams' 1979 HitchHiker's guide to the Galaxy

Creative Direction by Bompas & Parr, Set Design by Rhea Thierstein.

 We made 350 of these mutant ants, they infected the venue before being taken home by guests as a special Rhea Thierstein Souvenir!

Cosmic Planets and Moons...

Making one of the planets rings...

Space bubbles...

Setting up Saturn behind the bar, The animation is projected from inside the sphere which giving the illusion that the whole thing is rotation, made by a company called Pufferfish, check them out!

Giant Space worms, breaking through the floors and walls!

Hanging one of the mutant wasps...

The White frame is what later became the 'Sugar In The Air' room, a walk in chamber filled with rum and cola flavoured air, you could actually taste it in the air, it was soooo sticky, you were given a paper boiler suit to enter..


















This is The 'Bioluminescent' Area. We built a blacked out cave surrounded by glow stick juice. When entering the cave you were presented with a Bioluminescent lolly which when put in your mouth glowed as luminous as a glow stick!

Labaratory vibes...

The Ant invasion!

For many more, much better photos and details about the actual event and the food itself (we were all way to exhausted to be taking pictures by that point, and it was my birthday so I was off duty!) follow this link to notcot.com who's article about it makes me wish I could go back and do it all over again. Or go to rheathierstein.com

Tim Walkers 'Unicorn' for American Vogue

This is a shoot we did in February and was one of the strangest experiences of the year so far! Rhea was asked to find a unicorn (or something resembling one) for this editorial for American Vogue. We ended up finding this miniature horse called "Looking Glass Indian Spirit" she was one special little pony! The Unicorn aspect came in by attaching our hand made 'horn' to the bridle and then hanging it at the right angle just out of shot which fishing wire, It was like fishing for a pony. The set was completely white so we spent a long time dipping plastic flowers and fruit and all sorts into plaster to give it a porcelain feel. Set design by Rhea Thierstein, Photography by Tim Walker,  Models, Frida Gustavsson and Mirte Maas.