Admemori and the art of creating moving designs
The shark glides across the room, sinuously sweeping its tail and leaving only bubbles in its wake. It is slightly disconcerting at first; to be confronted by an elegant natural predator blithely swimming in a Paris apartment. Then it hits you. As realistic as the pale blue shark is, it is merely an image; a three-minute loop projected onto a 2m by 1m LCD screen set into the dining room’s middle wall. The mirrored surface gives an illusion of depth, allowing the shark to pop out in three-dimensional relief.
It never fails to elicit wonderment, this collaboration between interior designer Stéphanie Coutas and digital content studio Admemori, formerly known as Moving Design. And it is a testament to Admemori’s point that if pictures could paint a thousand words, then moving pictures could conjures millions of them.
The keyword is visual poetry. It was true in 2007 when the company was founded as Moving Design in Paris. And it remains true today in 2016, just as it rebranded itself into Admemori, a less literal name that nonetheless still captures the wistful imagination of co-founder and CEO Philippe Lepron and the team that he has built.
Since it’s inception, Admemori has worked with over 120 clients, both private and public. Private clients, naturally, rarely publicise their ‘moving designs’, with rare exceptions like Ms Coutas’ shark. Corporate engagements, in comparison, are both public and can be in vast scale, challenging conventions. One of the most difficult projects undertaken, for example, was the Digital Dream installation for Les4Temps in Paris, the largest shopping centre in Europe. The project involved over 250 sq.m of display in 360 degrees, requiring pin-prick precision to take full advantage of the high-resolution LED screens – resulting in gorgeously whimsical loop of swirling cherry blossom petals, pulsating neon jellyfish, vast galaxies and unique marketing opportunities for the Les4Temps’ partners.
Not all Admemori projects are this vast; but size is no indication of the creativity, toil or emotional resonance that flows. For the Mandarin Oriental Paris, guests are greeted in their rooms by a serene moving painting on the wall, using Japanese imagery of blossoms and bamboo as a small, but warm, touch of welcome. In the hotel’s spa, the walls pulse in a warm, gentle glow of butterflies amidst blooms. For the French Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain, a glittering holographic diorama of Parisian and French icons. And, curiously, for a restroom in the Palais de Congrés in Paris, wash basin screens of kaleidoscopic masks, carousels and fireworks.
The idea is to surprise, and to engage. To set spaces into motion and emote through the integration of moving designs. That can be complementary – floral montages in the Mandarin Oriental spa – or a juxtaposition – fireworks over the Paris skyline in a restroom – and the end result is to elicit a response, whether an amused smile or a wide-eyed wonderment.
Admemori projects typically span one to six months depending on size, and the firm is expanding beyond its traditional playground of France and the UK. A recent project in China for the Time Vallee watch store was its first foray into Asia, and now additional international projects are piling up, including two in China, and several in Qatar, Brazil, the USA and Mauritius.
The future is in motion, and the future is motion. Admemori’s visual poetry is the modern-day equivalent of art; projects like Les4Temps are its Renaissance murals and the 3-D shark are its personal Impressionist commissions. And just like those iconic works of art, an Admemori piece never fails to captivate and entrance. So let that shark keep on swimming, in perpetual motion.
