{"id":669669,"date":"2026-09-03T01:07:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T01:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/669669\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T01:07:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T01:07:21","slug":"optical-arts-is-a-design-studio-that-deals-in-optical-illusions-in-camera-worlds-and-unobvious-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/669669\/","title":{"rendered":"Optical Arts is a design studio that deals in optical illusions, in-camera worlds and unobvious choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whereas the Channel 4 idents were a massive collaborative effort, other projects are self-initiated studio projects, such as what Joe calls the \u201ctextural studies\u201d in Ignis<\/a> and Odyssey<\/a>. The studio takes a moment to use any free time during commercial projects as a space to experiment. \u201cI\u2019m forever in awe of what the artist can create from an empty screen and the freedom from physical constraints \u2013 but I\u2019m most at ease in the studio with physical objects, textures, cameras and lighting,\u201d says Joe. This is what fuses the studio\u2019s creative visions together, a love for 3D spaces and digital artistry alongside physical photography and filmmaking. In the studio\u2019s most recent design work creating the Apple TV<\/a> animated logo, Joe is strong to his word, as everything you see is in fact captured in-camera using real glass and lights<\/a>, shot in the studio and fine tuned in post production. \u201cI get excited by a brief that has a problem to solve with time to research and develop the solution, a luxury that is getting rarer and rarer for all creatives, I think,\u201d says Joe.<\/p>\n

The studio looks for references in classical paintings, sculptures, film, illustration in an attempt to avoid the algorithmic feedback loop of seeing the same image references everyone else does \u2013 so it makes sense that, in the Channel 4 idents, Fabrice took inspiration from automated warehouses, microscopic cell footage and crowd-tracking software. \u201cI love looking at images that weren\u2019t designed with aesthetic intent, working at extracting the inherent beauty within them to build a visual language,\u201d says Fabrice. With the Apple TV project, the cinematic potential of the camera was the primary influence, with Odyssey, Ignis, and Order in Space, influences include Hiroshi Sugimoto\u2019s multi-decade spanning concept of \u201ctheaters<\/a>\u201d and Berenice Abbott\u2019s scientific photography.<\/p>\n

\u201cDesign and lighting are truly the backbones of our practice. These elements drive most of our decisions and strongly shape our visual language,\u201d says Fabrice, with Joe adding: \u201cFor us, there is huge importance in making our work feel tactile with foundations in reality. Every element needs a reason to be there; a camera move is used to enhance and not to hide; three lights can be reduced to one considered light placement. In an environment where everything is clambering for our attention, I think there is a beauty in simplicity, and an edit that lingers on a shot a little bit longer, an idea that makes the viewer work a little bit harder to understand what they are viewing.\u201d<\/p>\n