6th January 2016

Interview: Anna and Victoria of We Are Facility

– by Ali Gitlow

Anna Fulmine and Victoria Shahrokh are the enterprising duo behind We Are Facility, a photographic studio and events space that opened on Arcola Street in the heart of Dalston in late 2015. For anyone interested in hiring the space, it means getting a blank canvas: it’s been deliberately left white and empty in order to be used for all sorts of shoots, exhibitions, classes, product launches, events and workshops. Thus far, it has played host to editorial shoots by the likes of Wonderland magazine and NME, as well as by Scandinavian design retailer Skandium. It’s also been home to a weekly yoga class and workshops, including a plant hanger making session led by designer Kia Utzon-Frank.

Anna and Victoria are also artists in their own right, crafting intricate and brilliant set designs under the name Lightning and Kinglyface (which derives from the English translations of their surnames). They initially met at university in the early 2000s while both studying graphic design, but were dissatisfied with working two-dimensionally so decided to enroll in model making courses. They started to create props professionally for theatre and photography and began collaborating on large-scale installations. Over the past 10 years they’ve built and conceptualized sets for still life photos featured in advertising and editorial, working with an impressive roster of clients including Cartier, BMW, Channel 4, Lurpak and Google.

Under the We Are Facility banner Anna and Victoria have also been running a bespoke picture framing service for a few years, just across the road from the new studio space. They occasionally sell frames at markets like Epic in Dalston in order to build their reputation and meet customers face-to-face – the next one of these will take place on 21 February. With so much exciting stuff going on, we decided to ask the ladies for the skinny on all that they’re up to:

How did you guys decide to open a photo studio/events space?

We saw the studio for the first time in July 2015 whilst looking to expand our framing shop. We fell in love with the space instantly but it took a couple of months to really figure out what we could do with it. We initially wanted a bigger workshop but decided that this was an opportunity too good to miss. With such high ceilings and depth, it was perfect for a photographic and event space. As set designers we work in studios regularly and have a good grasp on what is available to rent in Hackney. We felt that this end of Dalston lacked a really good editorial rate photographic studio that was open to the public. We have worked on Arcola Street for 3 years now and know a lot of the residents, so we thought it would be a great way to build the community further.

Will you be hosting more workshops in future?

Yes, we are really keen to do workshops and are hoping to entice other people to use the space for updating creative skills. We’d like to make it a regular occurrence so perhaps monthly we can encourage people to use the space and learn a new skill.

What are the challenges of running it day-to-day?

Making ourselves available for those renting the space is of the utmost importance for us. We try to make sure that people hiring the space feel supported throughout their day with us. This can sometimes be challenging when juggling two other businesses as well!

Have you made or shot any of your own work in the space?

Yes we have. We’re currently working on a personal project with Luke Kirwan that is a series of still life experimental images and a film. It’s based on the ten plagues and it’s a real overload on the senses, so the studio was the perfect place to get messy and we had access to our workshop across the road, so it was really convenient.

Where do you see your work as Lightning and Kinglyface headed?

We are shifting the focus of our practice to become more ‘special projects’ orientated. We would like to increase the scale of our work and expand the field of set design to incorporate more installations and straddle the worlds of art and commercial. Our practice has always been artistic and we see ourselves more as creatives that apply ourselves to the set design environment. With this in mind we are looking forward to working on more personal projects that take much longer to execute. We are currently working on a book and two short films to be released later this year.

You guys also run a framing business across the street from the studio. How did you first get started with framing and where did you learn the necessary skills for it?

It was quite random but a friend of ours was selling the equipment at a very reasonable price so we decided to buy it and make frames for ourselves and friends. As we started to get better at making frames we noticed our enjoyment levels creeping up and up! Making picture frames is very different to building sets. With props and sets we throw away a lot, whereas with frames we were building and making something that would last a very long time. Using this different head was really satisfying and a very new way of working.

Where do you source materials for the frames? Does your own creative work affect the way you handle and treat them?

We source everything from local suppliers in Hackney. I think as model makers and creatives we have a sensibility for materials and enjoy making, so yes, it has affected how we handle frames. Also with advising customers, we have a design eye that is really useful. A lot of framers come from a traditional school of framing and there are so many rules. Coming from a more contemporary world of set design and constantly researching design means we have more of a grasp on how to make artwork look interesting yet protected. We are both quite geeky when it comes to materials and we love learning about how to conserve artworks and have established a good set of rules. We taught ourselves mostly, and we also employ a very experienced framer who has been working in the industry for fifteen years. Together we all have a knowledge that means your artwork is in safe hands. We are looking to learn gilding and other more old-school techniques next year.

Are there any frames you’ve encountered that you thought were particularly amazing?

The Barbican is a firm favourite of ours and we always find their frames really impressive. The cabinets they have on show at the moment at the Eames show are incredible. We stood in front of them for way too long staring at the joinery, not the artwork!

wearefacility.co.uk

lightningandkinglyface.co.uk

1 and 2. Some recent work from Lightning and Kinglyface 3 and 4.Their new studio space available to hire 5. The stunning campaign they did for Laboratory Perfumes earlier this year. 6 and 7. Some framing commissions.