Creative web design agency Mud has launched a new brand and website for Base Structures, capturing the bold technical ambition of the team and the extraordinary complexity of their projects.
Base Structures came to Mud for a new website, but the initial groundwork revealed a bolder, more ambitious brand needed to take shape before any digital design thinking could begin.
Base is a market leader in tensile fabric structures. Self-described problem-solvers, their creative rigging and tensile fabric expertise delivers one-of-a-kind, immersive structures, canopies and large-scale installations.
Their work has transformed spaces for a high-profile client roster, including Zaha Hadid Architects, the Science Museum, RAID Museum Denmark and Lord’s Cricket Ground.
The existing website served as a functional catalogue of their projects to date, but told none of the story when it came to the transformative effect of their work. To attract higher-profile, design-motivated audiences seeking bespoke solutions, Base needed a stronger brand and presence that captured their extraordinary edge.
Jacob Little, Marketing & PR Consultant at Base Structures, said:
“Mud brought an understanding from the outset that this project was more than just building a new website. The team responded to the brief with proactive, strategic ideas that balanced creativity with the need to evolve our positioning in a way that felt authentic to the business. They arrived full of ideas and successfully captured the balance between our creative ambition and showcasing the technical delivery of often complex work.”
In early discussions with the Base team, Mud felt the opposing forces at play: the tension in the rigging of tensile fabric structures themselves, but also in the process of design and engineering, where creative ideas needed to be balanced with technical precision. The idea that ‘tension builds’ acknowledged the specialist expertise that Base Structures owns in the built environment sector.
Matt Powell, Creative Director at Mud, said:
“Engineering, manufacturing and rigging at height — in the discovery phase, we were struck by the sheer nerve and creative ambition alive in the Base team. When a client has a brand pillar of ‘experts in extraordinary’, you know it’s going to be a lot of fun.
“The idea that ‘tension builds’ — found in the force that defines tensile fabric engineering, and in the moments of suspense as their large-scale structures are realised — became the core theme in their new visual identity. It captures what sets them apart from typical architectural responses: the interplay between dynamic forms and forces.”
Mud evolved the original brand colours to be digital-first, expanding the palette with bright accents of blue and electric purple. The gothic sans serif PP Mori typeface was chosen for its subtle character, balancing a modern, functional feel with unexpected details.
Linear graphic elements respond to user behaviour throughout the site, with lines that warp, stretch and bounce in response to scrolling — bringing the feeling of tension directly into the digital experience. Subtle zoom mechanics draw users progressively into the work, emulating the immersive experience of Base structures themselves.
Alongside the visual experience, Mud built a flexible content system to support Base’s growth. A functional blog gives the team a platform to showcase projects and share expert insights, while an archive of 150+ historical projects (hidden from end users but accessible to the sales team) preserves the depth of their back catalogue. The whole system is powered by Craft CMS, giving Base the ability to update content as new projects and service lines develop.
The result is a bold, confident brand identity that feels true to the team spirit, and a digital experience that goes big on impact — inviting their audiences to marvel at the scale and artistic ambition of Base Structures’ hero projects.
Matt Powell said,
“This project was a perfect example of client/agency collaboration. The result is a platform with a big, visual impact that captures just what the Base team are capable of. We’re confident it will be transformative for Base, showcasing their work to assist them in landing even more technically ambitious projects at the intersection of art and architecture.”
At Bristol Creative Industries, we’re committed to informing young people about the diverse range of job roles within the creative sector.
Over the coming months, we’ll be catching up with some of the inspiring people within the BCI network to learn about their career journeys and hear their top tips for anyone starting out in the industry.
This month, we spoke to Adam Millbank, Founder and Executive Producer at Blanket, a Bristol-based film production company, film studio, and kit rental house.
I love the unpredictability of it, although that’s probably also the thing I find most challenging. Creative people are often a bit restless and never fully satisfied, which means you’re constantly pushing for something better.
There’s a great idea (often attributed to John Cleese) about the difference between creative and non-creative people. When most people face a problem, they feel a kind of discomfort and want to solve it quickly to get rid of that feeling. Creative people tend to sit with that discomfort for longer, which is what leads to more interesting solutions.
That’s what I’ve always loved – working with people who approach problems in that way. At the end of the day, what we do is solve problems, just in ways that hopefully engage people more or make them think differently. The variety that comes with that is huge – different challenges, different outputs, different ideas – and that’s what keeps it interesting. It’s also a real privilege to get to do this kind of work every day.
My career started at a bit of a crossroads. At sixth form I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and the only path that was really presented was university. I ended up with a deferred place to study marketing and HR, but it didn’t feel quite right.
I went travelling, and when I came back a friend mentioned they were going to study documentary film. That was a bit of a lightbulb moment – all the things I’d enjoyed before, like filming and storytelling, suddenly made sense as a career.
I met a lecturer on that course who was essentially just looking for storytellers, and that set everything in motion. At university I met my co-founder, and we started a wedding videography business as a way to make some money. That grew quickly – we built it up, won awards, and ended up filming a huge number of weddings each year.
From there, we were asked to film a corporate event, which led to more opportunities – working with different clients, travelling, and gradually moving into commercial and branded content. It was quite a natural, knock-on progression.
There was a moment where I considered going down a more traditional route into natural history filmmaking, but when that didn’t quite work out, I decided instead to build something myself. Since then, we’ve grown the business into a production company working with global clients, alongside building our own studio space.
Blanket is a branded content production company. We create everything from TV commercials and social campaigns to internal communications and educational content, working across a range of sectors.
We also have our studio space. We use it for our own productions, but it’s also available for others to hire. It gives us the ability to experiment more creatively, and also creates a space for other filmmakers and creatives to make their own work.
The biggest thing is curiosity. The people we work with tend to be driven, interested in how things work, and always looking to push ideas further.
A lot of what we do comes down to understanding people and behaviour, and then using that understanding to create something meaningful. Beyond that, the skills vary depending on the role – production, editing, camera work, creative, marketing, studio management. It’s a broad mix.
We also think a lot about team balance and how different people and skillsets fit together to create a strong culture.
For the last 15 years, we’ve mainly recruited through the Bristol Creative Industries jobs board. It’s important to us to bring in local talent, both to support the creative community in the region and to build a team that can be present and involved in the studio environment.
You probably understand where the industry is heading more than you think. The pace of change is so fast, and people coming into it now have a real advantage.
The most important thing is to make things, experiment, and put yourself in situations where you can meet people and learn. Being in the room matters – opportunities come from that. If you’re not there, they won’t.
You can find Blanket’s Bristol Creative Industries profile here.
You can learn more about me on LinkedIn here and more about Blanket here.
Why translation?
You’re an account manager at a Bristol PR & marketing agency, and in this week’s meeting, you heard the client say they’re looking for someone to handle their content in multiple languages, to target new markets. It looks like there’s space for you to pitch additional services… And avoid being replaced by a big flashy London agency with the word “global” written in all caps all over its website. The thing is, you’ve never done multilingual projects before.
Where?
So, it’s 10am, you’re looking at the analytics for your tech start-up website, and here comes that nagging feeling again: numbers for visitors on your product pages show growing interest from outside the UK, but it doesn’t convert into international sales. Could it be because your website is (British) English-only? What markets and languages could you pick for localization? Where could you exhibit at an international trade show?
How?
Or you’re working on bringing higher numbers to your cultural attraction. Industry intelligence, including that report you paid for, is all about potential for growth with international tourists. But how to reach them? Which part of your website to translate? Could you offer foreign-language audio tours? What about advertising?
Seeing through the fog
With so many questions and the ensuing confusion, too often valuable opportunities are left untapped. But translation need not remain The Great Unknown. Even a simple chat to explore where and how it applies to your business can bring useful clarity.
Thinking big
At a recent Bristol Creative Industries Members’ Lunch, the conversation turned to Bristol and the South West having the wealth of talent to become a top-tier player in their own right, not just playing second fiddle to London, and how BCI and its members can work to make this ambition a reality.
Looking far
I want to help with this. With the diversity of fields and backgrounds within BCI, I see many scenarios where thinking international can be a source of new business, better clients and brighter prospects for fellow members (large organisations, boutique agencies or freelancers), whether that means bringing the world to our region or exporting our products, services, and talent abroad.
So, I’m offering BCI members a free 1-hour consult on how the international and translation angle can play out their business. Get in touch for that clarity-bringing chat!
If you’re already clear about reaching beyond English to French-speaking audiences, get in touch too, for a quote for your French translation project.
Abstract: This article examines Nandipha Mntambo’s pieces, ‘Umfanekiso wesibuko’ (Mirror image) and ‘Titfunti emkhatsini wetfu’ (The shadows between us) in particular, and her use of cowhide through Bhabha’s concept of Third Space Thinking. I also use Salomé’s understanding of femininity to form a deeper understanding of the female corporeal figures present in her work. Bhabha’s Third Space Thinking is a space where binaries dissolve and expand into new perceptions and draws parallels between Salomé’s description of the fluid, limitless and ineffable nature of femininity. I investigate societal beliefs surrounding female body hair through Kristeva’s understanding of abjection, being the discomfort that arises from the instability of the boundary between the internal and external. Mntambo’s work combines human/animal, masculine/feminine, self/other, and attraction/repulsion. and therefore, sits in ‘The beyond’ that Bhabha defines as the liminal space between binaries. The sculptures create a sensory and conceptual space that destabilises Western binary logic and creates a third space where the human, animal and feminine converge. This invites the viewer to engage in the transformative experience of third space thinking that could reshape how we perceive our surroundings and ourselves.
Nandipha Mntambo is a South African artist, born in Mbabane, Swaziland in 1982 (‘Nandipha Mntambo – Zeitz MOCAA’, 2017), who completed a Fine Art MA at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, in 2007 (‘NANDIPHA MNTAMBO | Biography | Everard Read London’, 7 November). Mntambo explores themes of the female body through sculpture, photography, mixed materials, and video. This essay will examine how Mntambo’s practice can be understood through Homi Bhabha’s concept of third space thinking (Kalua, 2009) and Salomé’s understanding of femininity. Within Third Space Thinking, Bhabha describes ‘the beyond’ as the liminal space where fixed binary oppositions dissolve, allowing new meanings to emerge through the interaction of conflicting elements. Mntambo allows the binaries of masculine/feminine, attraction/repulsion, life/death, and self/other to coexist and interact within
her work. This encourages the viewer to confront and contemplate the discomfort of merging these dualities.
While focusing on her pieces ‘Umfanekiso wesibuko’ (Mirror image) and ‘Titfunti emkhatsini wetfu’ (The shadows between us), I will discuss the female experience within the human, the animal and the feminine. The term ‘Human’ refers biologically to Homo sapiens and to the cultural position that conceptualises humans through exceptionalism, meaning they are separate and superior to all other entities on Earth (Holden and Fennell, 2017, pp. 19). Humans technically fall under the animal category, and so the inclusion of both terms in my title
highlights a culturally enforced separation that puts animals in the ‘other than human’ category, a distinction critiqued in philosophical discourse (Haraway, 2008). The ‘feminine’ refers to cultural and psychological associations historically attached to women. I examine these by looking at body hair and the taboo surrounding it. I will psychoanalyse the term using Lou Andreas-Salomé as my key point of reference, who suggests femininity enters the realm of creativity, embodiment and fluidity. By immersing ourselves in Mntambo’s sculptural forms and her words surrounding them, we engage with the collaboration of our perspectives and hers, thus, entering what Bhabha calls ‘the beyond’ (Simba and Davids, 2020). Her work becomes a visual manifestation of ‘the beyond’, a space of tension and transformation.
Mntambo has repeatedly expressed her dislike for being known solely as a South African artist. She points out that art made by people of colour is often assumed to be influenced by colonialism and politics (Ecclestone, 2012). This generalises people of colour’s individual experiences and groups them into a collective one. This stunts the viewer’s understanding of the artist’s work by limiting areas that the artist could be exploring. She says ‘My work was never meant to be a direct exploration of the African Female body. I just happen to be African and female and use my body in my art-making process’ (Mntambo, 2007). Therefore, while I acknowledge that her identity as an African female may be part of her work, I focus my analysis on visual cues and the conceptual framework to avoid reductionist interpretations. I also acknowledge that, as a white female, my perception of Mntambo’s work is shaped by my own positionality and cultural context. I hope that, considering Mntambo’s stance on how she wishes her work to be received, this will not limit my analysis, as I am looking beyond racial frameworks.
Figure 1.
https://dailyartfair.com/exhibition/1843/nandipha-mntambo-andrehn-schiptjenko
Mntambo, ‘Umfanekiso wesibuko’ – ‘Mirror image’ (2013)
Figure 2.
https://dailyartfair.com/exhibition/1843/nandipha-mntambo-andrehn-schiptjenko
Mntambo, ‘Titfunti emkhatsini wetfu’ – ‘The shadows between us’ (2013)
Figure 3.
https://dailyartfair.com/exhibition/1843/nandipha-mntambo-andrehn-schiptjenko
Mntambo, Titfunti emkhatsini wetfu – The shadows between us (2013)
To Navigate the concept of ‘the beyond’ and how it differs from typical Western thinking, we must first acknowledge how our thinking has been shaped. Throughout Western society, because of Aristotelian philosophy, our way of thinking is based on ‘the law of identity, which states that A is A, the law of contradiction (A is not non-A), and the law of the excluded middle (A cannot be A and non-A, neither A nor non-A)’ (Fromm, 1995). In other words, ‘it is impossible for the same thing at the same time to belong and not to belong to the same thing and in the same respect’. This has been engraved in Western thinking and has become an unconscious habit to assume that saying ‘X is A and not A’ is wrong.
Positive paradoxical thinking, prevalent in Taoism (or Daoism) and Bhabha’s ‘Third Space Thinking’, states that X can be A and Non-A at the same time. In Taoism, a Chinese philosophy and religion, the world is full of overlapping opposites. Taoism is a way believed to free ourselves from the limiting structures of our thinking patterns shaped by ‘the law of identity’ as the Western language blinds us from areas that sit in the between (or ‘the beyond’. “There is a limit to what language can do, and that limit of language is paradoxical”(Tanaka 2004, 191).
Bhabha’s ‘third space thinking’ reflects these beliefs and, in doing so, rejects compartmentalised or binary constructions of cultural views. This thinking becomes political, aiming to involve opposing beliefs and systems in open and productive dialogue.
Mntambo first started using cowhide during her fourth year at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town (Ecclestone, 2012). She initially intended to study forensic pathology, so she has an interest in the corporeal, DNA, hair, and bodily fluids. She is also intrigued by how movement is illustrated in classical sculptures made from such hard materials (Moret, 2013).
The spark of her attraction towards cowhide came from a dream involving cows.
She was then trained by a taxidermist who assisted her with formulating the chemicals needed to tan and harden the skin. Before the skin is hardened, Mntambo moulds it into her desired shape. She sources the cowhide ethically from abattoirs and tanneries where the animals are already being slaughtered for consumption (‘Nandipha Mntambo: Creating mirror images of the human body | Design Indaba, 2025). She takes what is left behind and gives it another life.
In Figure 1, Mntambo has sculpted cowhide into the shape of two women on all fours. Being physically below the audience’s eye line, the figures become a symbol of submission. It is also a position associated with the inferior, the dominated, and therefore, the female (Hooks, 2014). It can also have sexual connotations.
The discussion of female sexuality is based on a language of phallomorphism (Irigaray, 1985). The vagina is an object of absence, missing the penis, or a penis turned in on itself, and its only purpose is that of pleasuring a penis. The vagina becomes the embodiment of the male gaze – a void in which men can fill with projective fantasies (Salomé, 2002), Fantasies that are often unattainable and unrealistic. In this way, the female created in a man’s thoughts does not exist. The projections they force upon us are fragments of a false reality. ‘In his attempts to understand woman, man comes only upon his own fantasies’ (Mazin, 2025). We become a prop on the stage of a man’s imaginary play. This narrative has become subconscious for most, meaning that writers, including women, use language that further pushes it into reality. Because of this, women’s desire belongs to and relies on men. This is perfectly depicted in Mntambo’s sculptures. The absence of bodily substance inside the skin of the feminine figure, in this context, represents the lack of identity and focus on eternal appearances in the male gaze. It also illustrates how women often lose a sense of identity and individuality to conform to male desires (Hernando, 2017), as Mntambo removed the internal body from the skin, ripping it from
its mind. This is emphasised by the feminine sculpture being displayed in front of an audience, in a nude and vulnerable state, only existing to be looked at.
‘Not knowing what she wants, ready for anything, asking for more, so long as he will take her as his object when he seeks his own pleasure. Thus, she will not say what she herself wants: moreover, she does not know or no longer knows what she wants’ (Irigaray, 1985).
This quote describes the diminished sense of desire shaped by the expectation of women to be passive objects without pleasure or agency. The differentiation between enjoyment and validation is blurred. Our desire is defined and manipulated by our environment before we know what desire feels like (Lina, 2025). Endless conditioning steals the joy from a sacred act of pleasure, connection and creation. Sexuality can become a means of connection with their untamed, undomesticated selves and reclaim a sense of freedom as it is rooted in a biological force shared across animal life. The all-fours position, while having sexual connotations, can also refer to animals. ‘Sex is a subset of nature. Sex is the natural in man’ (Paglia, 1990). Yet women are shamed and scrutinised for expressing their sexuality, while men are praised for it (Farvid & Braun, 2006). Have too much sex and we are sluts, and have too little and we are frigid. Wear too few clothes and we are asking for it, but wear too many and we become invisible. Display just the right amount of subtle and restrained sexuality to get their attention, without appearing as though we want it. The key expectation is that women must want male attention. After all, their attention is essential to feeling whole, because without being seen through the male gaze, we don’t exist at all (Salomé, 2002).
The combination of the sexuality of these sculptures and the use of cowhide creates a tension between attraction and repulsion. The positions and visibility of the arched back, all fours position, and visible glutes, alluding to the figure being nude, would seem to appeal to the male gaze. However, the skin being covered in hair would do the opposite (Smelik, 2015).
‘What functions psychologically as the abject – as an ultimate object of disgust – figures socially as a taboo’ (Smelik, 2015).
The response of disgust to female body hair, a societal taboo, sits in the abject. The ‘abject’ is defined by Julia Kristeva as a feeling caused by an unstable boundary between the inside and outside of the body (1982). Body hair is a visible boundary between the internal and the external, as it is both inside the skin at the root and outside the skin. This means it also sits in ‘the beyond’ as it is positioned between boundaries between the internal/external,
human/animal and masculine/feminine. Therefore, our abjection towards body hair reflects our desire for a strict boundary between these binaries. I believe abjection is the manifestation of our psychological need to define and categorise all of existence. Our extreme rejection of natural bodily objects and fluids signifies humans’ fear of the undefined, and therefore of ‘the beyond’.
The female cowhide sculptures encapsulate all the causes of abjection to body hair. The bodily sculpture is shaped into a human form but made of non-human material. So, the visual cues suggest it is a human covered in hair. Body hair is often perceived as unclean due to its association with sweat and the pubic region (Smelik, 2015). Additionally, it blurs the boundary between men and women due to societal acceptance of men’s body hair and the male hormone naturally producing more of it. It also threatens our cultural separation from animals, especially the ones we developed from. These aspects are all exaggerated in Mntambo’s material choices. The abjection we experience towards the body is heightened because of this.
Mntambo’s tedious process of scraping the cowhide of fat, chemically preserving it and physically manipulating its shape into a desired form mirrors the manipulation of females and their bodies in today’s society (Gaard, 1993). The ‘hairless body’ has become the ideal beauty standard because it further separates men and women, human and animal, and represses the power of female sexuality (Smelik, 2015). Hairlessness in the pubic region has meant that the
visibility of the vagina and all its ‘complexity’ has risen. ‘The absence of hair thus reveals the vulva entirely, turning it into a simultaneously vulnerable and sexual site/sight.’ In Freud’s view,
the vagina is the absence of a penis, making it ‘the horror of nothing to see’ (Freud 1955 [1922]): 273). Contemporary male reactions to the body were assessed by Gaillard and Windish (2012), and they concluded that the hairy female body ‘both fascinates and terrifies, attracts and repulses’. So, her sculptures are the embodiment of the contradictions within societal beauty standards.
The bodies are doubled in both installations, making the concept of the self and the other prominent (Andréhn-Schiptjenko, 2025). These can be linked to her earlier work:
Figure 4.
Mntambo, ‘Narcisuss’ (2009)
Figure 4 is an interpretation of the ‘myth of Narcissus’, a story of a man who becomes infatuated with and dies beside his own reflection, thus having a flower named after him. It is a prominent and rich means of inspiration within Western literature and art.
Lou Andreas-Salomé is a psychoanalytic writer who explored areas of religion, philosophy and gender theory (‘Lou Andreas-Salomé: A Brief Biography, 2024). For Salomé, the environment in which Narcissus’ desire arose is significant. The cause of Narcissus seeing himself is water
reflecting an image back to him. Water, being an essential element that gives life to nature, becomes the vessel that connects him with nature. Salomé refers to this reflection as ‘the mirror of nature’ where he is seeing himself as within, and the same as, nature. He saw ‘himself as all’ (. Thus, to Salomé, narcissism was a ‘maniacal condition of love towards oneself and towards the surrounding world’ (‘The Femme Fatale – Lou Andreas-Salomé – European Journal of Psychoanalysis’, 2002).
The binaries of self and other are combined in the myth of Narcissus and, therefore, in Salomé’s view, within Mntambo’s painting and sculptures. The self and the other become merged as the other, in the mirror of nature, becomes the self. The confines of the selfhood inside the body are expanded and dissolved into its surroundings.
Figure 2 shows two figures that, given gender norms, can be assumed to be female because they appear to be wearing dresses. The cowhide is folded and pleated in a way that suggests the figures’ dresses are blowing in different directions, as if mirroring one another. They are suspended above the ground, making the viewer gaze upward. This gives the figures a physical position of authority and power. The side view (Figure 3) reveals that the front of the body is missing, as if being cut in half to reveal nothing inside. The title of the artwork, ‘The Shadows Between Us’, implies a relationship between the two sculptures, bringing attention to the space and emptiness separating them. The sculptures have been placed in front of a window, filling the hollow space with light and the front of the sculptures with darkness. The sculptures, therefore, appear to be shadows themselves. The sculptures are life-like, making them more human and intimate. Instinct, when looking at figures, is to allocate emotion and identity.
However, the head and hands not being present take away the individualisation of the figures. Your focus is directed towards the physicality of the bodily form and its tactile surface.
In Mntambo’s Narcissus piece, she sees her reflection in the water and, metaphorically, sees her inner psyche. Because of the natural environment in which she appears, you can infer that she is also connecting with and seeing herself within nature. She is sitting in ‘the beyond’, that is, the inescapable overlap of the human and non-human.
Salomé’s interpretation sees narcissism and creativity as one and the same. To be able to mirror and replicate one’s own being is an action that requires a knowing of oneself. She explains that this capability is limited to one’s gender. For a female, Salome believes, the
creative psyche has less desire to look externally for a muse and finds one internally. She has more access to her inner self for inspiration. She believes that this is caused by women’s connection to the maternal ground of being, it being less ruptured than men’s, as they have a uterus. ‘Ground of being’ refers to the original form of self and the core layer of experience that identity grows from. Salomé believes that women are better connected to this core because they are better connected to their origin – the mother (‘Jane Feldman: Lou Andreas-Salomé’, 2025). The mother creates. It makes sense, then, that women have a greater sense of inner creativity if we are biologically designed to create and have a stronger connection to the creator within ourselves.
‘Our deepest entry into ourselves, a thousandfold solitude. But it is as if this individuated solitude were surrounded by a thousand gleaming mirrors and thus appeared expanded, being vaulted into an all-embracing world.’ (‘Jane Feldman: Lou Andreas-Salomé’, 2025).
Within Salomé’s interpretations, women are without boundaries. Women, as we are without boundaries – limitless, we are fluid, ever-expanding entities. We are spacious, singing flesh, objectless and ineffable. The emptiness that sits within Mntambo’s paintings is symbolic of the infinite mirrors that exist within the woman’s universe.
As previously stated, the Western language is seen as limiting our capability to navigate the beyond that lies between the lines of words. Salomé suggests that women, because we are without boundaries, our language ‘does not contain, it carries; it does not hold back, it makes possible.’ It is ‘the language of a thousand tongues which knows neither enclosure nor death.’ We speak the language of ‘the beyond’.
Mntambo’s sculpture blurs the boundaries between self/other, internal/external, human/nature through the concepts of narcissism in her ‘Narcissus’ piece, which bleed into the pieces ‘Umfanekiso wesibuko’ (Mirror image) and ‘Titfunti emkhatsini wetfu’ (The shadows between us). It is emphasised in ‘Umfanekiso wesibuko’ (Mirror image) because, as its title states, the sculptures are mirroring one another and become each other’s reflections. She encapsulates Salomé’s beliefs involving femininity and its inherent connection with nature through female corporeality, its anima material. Mntambo is therefore exploring ecofeminist perspectives (Gaard, 1993). We are within Earth but simultaneously discontinuous with it (Bataille, 1987, pp. 1-9). Women and Mother Earth both go under exploitation and domination because of overlapping traits – like being maternal, unpredictable, wild, loud, fluctuating, creative – that are
seen to need controlling (Gaard, 1993, pp. 1–12). The space that sits ominously inside Mntambo’s corporeal sculptures symbolises women’s limitlessness and simultaneously represents the empty void that men see within women. Men project the ‘femme fatale’ into that empty void. The emptiness that is seen within the feminine causes women to be seen as non-existent without the male gaze imposed onto them.
Cowhide is an unusual and almost impossible material to use in sculpture. Being a temporary medium, it will eventually rot and disintegrate. Its ephemerality is exaggerated by the pungent smell of dead animals that fills the gallery space. ‘They don’t smell like leather, they smell like a cow’ (Du Preez, 2010). This smell reminds the audience of the reality of how these sculptures came to exist. Not only are they conceptual shells of a female body, but they are also what is left of an animal’s life. The sensuous experience forces the audience into a space haunted by the presence of animals and women, symbolically present but physically missing. Inside ‘the beyond’ of these sculptures, life and death are at play. The sensual experience is a reminder of the material’s temporality because of its aliveness. The position of all fours conforms with the male fantasy but distinctly opposes it through abjection caused by body hair. The smell signifies decomposition and life decaying, which juxtaposes the lifeless objectivity of the male gaze. The uncanny combination illustrates that the male gaze is solely a fantasy and can never materialise into reality.
Mntambo’s cowhide sculptures reveal how the human, the animal, and the feminine can no longer be sustained as separate or stable categories. Through Umfanekiso wesibuko and Titfunti emkhatsini wetfu, Mntambo creates a space of unsettling but necessary conversations between conflicting elements where the viewer can experience a form of third space thinking. The work demonstrates how femininity, humans and non-humans are interrelated by overlapping layers of cultural projection, abjection and desire, all rooted in a need for the human brain to categorise its senses and ultimately gain control by defining the undefinable.
Mntambo’s art is a place where the undefinable flourishes. The empty interiors and sensuous materials embody an alternate form of existence that resists confinement. Salomé’s understanding of femininity resists boundaries by describing it as boundless, expansive and connected with nature, which is illuminated by the hollow bodies in Mntambo’s work. Kristeva explains that the discomfort that emerges when the boundaries between human and animal are dissolved is abjection. By integrating binaries into a shared space, Mntambo’s practice challenges the Western insistence on fixed identity and categorisation. She challenges the
audience to resist this and embrace the ambiguity and mystery of ‘the beyond’ without defining it. Ultimately, her work opens up a liminal zone of new meaning and transformation created through converging the feminine, the human and the non-human, resulting in new ways of seeing and understanding the body.
At The Square Club, we’re more than just a members’ club – we’re a hub for Bristol’s creative community. In partnership with Bristol Creative Industries, we’re delighted to offer BCI members discounted membership at just £30 a month.
Members join a unique community of creative professionals, with The Square being a space for fresh ideas, discussion, and collaboration. Alongside a vibrant events programme and dining scene, it’s a dynamic environment for working, socialising, and networking.
Our spaces include a boutique lounge, the Square Kitchen restaurant, the Lower Deck Cocktail Bar, and a hidden city-centre terrace – perfect for focusing, hosting meetings, or catching up with fellow creatives.
You may already know us from BCI’s monthly Members Lunch or Freelancers Networking Evening, where Bristol’s creative community gathers to connect and collaborate.
But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what BCI member, Mark Beavan of That Little Agency, had to say:
“I became a member of the Square Club as it offered an alternative working environment to home or the office. The warm, casual and welcoming environment is perfect to facilitate a number of different approaches to work – whether that is the need for focus, collaboration, or creative thinking. It is quickly becoming a meeting post for creative, media and agency professionals, with a weekly, monthly and annual calendar of interesting and engaging events aimed at this audience. The team are fantastic and always looking at ways to add more value to this community. In particular, Sophie plays a central role in fantastically managing this demanding group of professionals.”
Membership also includes reciprocal access to over forty clubs worldwide (including six in London), two complimentary hotel nights, access to over twenty events a month, and a network of like-minded creatives. Whether you need a space to focus, meet clients, or spark new ideas, The Square has you covered.
See it for yourself. Book a tour or apply for membership today by emailing [email protected], and discover why Bristol’s creatives are choosing The Square Club.
March is B Corp Month, which celebrates businesses that have achieved certified B Corporation status, a measure of high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Our region has many B Corps. In fact, a report in 2023 said Bristol is home to the most B Corps of any UK city outside of London.
To mark B Corp Month 2026, we’ve updated our showcase of B Corps in the Bristol Creative Industries community. Read about inspiring businesses below, with their tips for how to become a certified B Corporation.
“My biggest piece of advice for businesses considering B Corp certification? Just start! The process may seem intense at first, but once you take that first step, it all becomes much more manageable. The B Impact Assessment gives you a clear benchmark, and it’s quicker to work through than you might think. More importantly, see it as a journey. Every step you take is a step towards becoming a better business for both people and the planet. By simply starting, you’re already making a positive impact!”
Tom Locke, Noughts & Ones (BCI member profile | B Corp profile)
“To become a successful B Corp focus on embedding sustainability deeply within your company culture. Start by clearly assessing your environmental impact. For example, Atomic Smash made a big step by transitioning a majority of clients’ hosting to providers that solely use renewable energy and prioritising greener digital practices. Regularly evaluate your performance through the B Impact Assessment, ensuring continuous improvement. By transparently integrating these purposeful practices into daily operations and clearly communicating your efforts, your business can successfully attain B Corp status and inspire positive change.”
David Darke, Atomic Smash (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“One of the key tips about becoming a B Corp is that you don’t just become one and tick it off your list. Achieving B Corp certification is just the start of the journey. It’s about a wholehearted commitment from the top to the bottom of your organisation to do better business. It affects everything – from Articles of Association and company mission, to choice of suppliers, clients, company policies and so on. No business is perfect, but the B Corp assessment criteria help to set priorities and objectives towards meaningful change so that people and planet are considered equally alongside profit. It’s a huge commitment, but for us, there’s no other way to do business.”
Alex Ririe, The Collaborators (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Halo was one of the first 1,000 businesses in the UK to become a certified B Corp.
“Becoming a B Corp challenges you to focus on areas often overlooked and helps focus your business into a force for good. There is a lot to do, so I’d say start small—review suppliers, refine policies, and engage employees by letting them choose causes they’re passionate about. Keep it on the leadership agenda, talk and learn from other B Corps.
“The process is about continuous improvement, ensuring accountability and impact. Going green doesn’t mean an overhaul; think local, reduce waste, and measure your footprint- we plant a tree for every invoice we raise. The biggest tip? Just get going.”
Nina Edmonds, Halo (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Our mission is to shape an industry where paid media done the right way delivers client success whilst contributing to stronger communities and a healthier planet.
“This clearly aligns with the B Corp values and the accreditation has helped us focus on how we can expand our purpose.
“We had a mentor, Business on Purpose founder Andy Hawkins, to guide us through the process, which was very helpful. The B Corp community is a valuable one in which working collaboratively is at its core. If you are not sure whether to proceed with the accreditation, feel free to reach out to us (or any other friendly B Corp) and we’ll be happy to answer any questions.”
Toby Parkins, Flight Feather (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Our mission is to create work that has a positive impact on people and planet, so becoming a B Corp felt like a natural step.
“Our tip is to really make sure that your people are on board with what you’re trying to achieve. B Corp certification isn’t something that a couple of people within the organisation can be solely responsible for. It’s down to everyone playing an active role – from committing to volunteering days to understanding what reproductive policies look like in our agency.
“We take regular opportunities to share what we’re working towards and invite feedback from teams across the business, which is so far proving successful.”
Sarah Dennis, Aer Studios (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Becoming a B Corp isn’t just about ticking boxes; it’s about weaving purpose into your business’s DNA. It starts with a genuine commitment to people, clients, the community, and the planet. Prioritise ethical practices, transparency, and accountability.
“Continuous improvement is key; small, meaningful changes create a lasting impact. Use your business as a force for good, challenge the status quo, and resist pressures that push against positive change. The journey to certification is a mindset shift, not just a process. When you do it for the right reasons, everything else falls into place.”
Josh Harrison, Taxi Studio (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“First and foremost, you have to truly want to do it. When Something Familiar began our B Corp journey, it was because we wanted to wear our values on our sleeve and embed good practices from the start – ensuring our business grows in alignment with our principles.
“The process is rigorous and constantly evolving, but that’s the point. We started by being honest about where we were, then committed to change, growth, and improvement. It’s not just about policies, it’s about embedding impact into every decision.
“The benefits are super clear too, we’ve forged stronger relationships, engaged teams, and built long-term sustainability. If you’re considering starting your journey, the B Corp community is incredibly open and supportive, ready to guide you along the way.”
Rich Williams, Something Familiar (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Becoming a B Corp isn’t just about earning the certification, it’s about committing to continuous improvement in how your business operates. By embedding its principles into your company culture, you will ensure your team understands and embraces the commitment.
“From producing an annual impact report to recertifying every three years, B Corp principles should be woven into the fabric of your business, not forgotten once the plaque is on the wall. Tracking progress and gathering evidence are key to this. At our company, we hold a monthly B Corp team lunch to review each pillar and share updates. Certification isn’t the finish line–it’s the start of an ongoing journey to balance profit with purpose and drive meaningful impact.”
Lucy McKerron, Purplefish PR (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Give yourself plenty of time. Use the Impact Assessment questions to inform and guide your company policies and business practices before deciding to go for certification, so that the core values of B Corp are already embedded into your culture.
“Learn from others who have been through it but if you can, engage a consultant. We were guided through the process by Byen which made the whole experience very enjoyable.
“Be thorough and meticulous. Continually record and build your evidence to simplify the submission stage.
“Look for easy wins – small changes can have a big impact.
“If you have been honest and evidenced everything, you can be confident of your score when you submit.”
Alexia Mihranian, Osborne Pike (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
Be authentic
You should become a B Corp because you believe in the philosophy, not because it’ll benefit you, so do it for the right reasons and focus on initiatives that make a real difference to your team, your community and the world around you.
Focus on the Three Ps
People, Purpose and Planet are the cornerstones of being a B Corp. Get those right then in turn it will benefit your Profit.
Build B Corp into your culture
It takes time and energy to live your B Corp values. Embed purposeful initiatives into your company culture and objectives to stay focused and on track.
Make friends
It’s easier (and more impactful) to make a difference if you do so with others! Find your local B Corp community and make partnerships with like-minded businesses around you.
Be adaptable
What it means to be a B Corp changes with the times, so be adaptable to new landscapes within society and the planet as a whole.
Amy Stobie, AgencyUK (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“The best way to become a B Corp is by not taking it as a set of requirements, but genuinely using them as principles to guide yourself as a business.
“Especially with the upcoming changes, becoming certified is a lot harder if you consider it as the minimum bar to jump. By thinking genuinely about the impact you can and want to make that aligns with who you are as a business it’s far easier to get everyone on board and embed B Corp into your culture, which in turn, makes the accreditation easier too.”
Alistair Paul, Bright (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“We started our B Corp journey in 2018 and certified in 2019.
“The more we heard about it the more aligned we felt with it and that it gave us a framework to work towards and ultimately the recognition that we were running the company in the right way.
“The key thing is identifying where you feel as a company you can make a meaningful difference across the five core areas assessed. It’s important everyone has a voice and that you are all working towards the same goals you want to achieve.”
Steve Kay, ADLIB (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“I’d suggest working through the Business Impact Assessment one section at a time. And take your time. Chip away at tasks little and often to make steady progress. Try to set aside dedicated time each week to move forward.
“Share the workload with your team, so you don’t feel overwhelmed. It’s also important that the process feels authentic. Ideally, you’ll find that many of the policies, procedures, or at least values, are already in place in your company. So going B Corp feels natural and genuine, like the next step in your journey.”
Jess Evans, Shaped By (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Becoming a B Corp is a transformative journey that reshapes your business around core values centred on people, planet and purpose. At ORCA, these principles have always guided our work, and certification has only strengthened our commitment.
“This process impacts every part of your business, so involve your entire team from the start. Define clear roles and responsibilities to ensure that everyone contributes to the initiatives that drive sustainable change. Embedding these values into daily operations is key, and tapping into the B Corp community for insights and best practices provides invaluable support, reinforcing your mission and driving continuous growth.”
Mila Embury, ORCA (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Get support and carve out time:
“In terms of the application itself, we found some of the questions quite jargon-heavy. So we found it really useful to work with someone who had been through the process who could clarify what sort of information the question needed as a response.
“Having support from an external party also kept us accountable for hitting deadlines around filling in the application. We set aside one day a week during the application process.
“Involve your team:
“It’s impossible for one or two people to do everything. We found that involving the team helped to share some of the responsibilities, as well as adding an element of team-building and fun to the process.”
Karen Pearce, Loom Digital (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Becoming a B Corp is just the beginning. Since certification, we’ve partnered with local B Corps to amplify our collective impact.
“We’ve focused on reducing energy consumption by installing new windows. Volunteering with charities like Bristol Zoo Project and St Peter’s Hospice has engaged our team and connected us more deeply to the local community.
“The quickest win? Switching to eco-friendly alternatives like CoCo+ for business travel and Ecosia, the greenest search engine on the planet. It’s the small, habitual changes that make a lasting difference in creating a more sustainable future.”
Lottie Pratt, saintnicks (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Being a B Corp is a commitment to ongoing positive change rather than a one-time achievement, a journey rather than a destination to tick off.
“What’s worked for us has been small but regular sustainable changes: changes that can be more easily embedded into business processes, adopted by everyone in the business and built on each year.
“Certification is truly a team endeavour but, practically, it helps to have one project leader to coordinate stakeholders and drive progress.”
Belle Farman, Sunhouse Creative (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“For us the best advice we can give on how to successfully become a B Corp is simply to do it for the right reasons. If the B Corp set up is right for the values and direction of your business then it’s a no brainer. If however it’s primary use is that of a tool for sales, then reconsider. We’ve noted many controversial and immoral uses of the B logo by organisations hoping it’s a route to easy wins.
“The process of certification was a wonderful and thorough thing for us. It helped us ask questions of ourselves we wouldn’t have normally, set our business on a course for the foreseeable, and helped our team unite under clear and positive values. So our advice would be to enjoy the process with an open and honest mind. Even without certification you will take value from the process.”
Adam Millbank, JonesMillbank (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Becoming a B Corp back in 2022 was a real turning point for us at Skylark. The B Impact Assessment helped us dig into what we were already doing well and where we needed to step up – across governance, team, environment and community.
“My advice? Don’t wait until everything’s perfect – just get started. The Impact Assessment is famously a journey, and with good reason. You’re interrogating every facet of your business.
“In uncertain times, when businesses face economic pressures and competing priorities, it’s easy to let purpose take a back seat. But it’s exactly when people, planet, and integrity are at risk that we need values-led leadership the most.”
Nina Postans, Skylark Media (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Involve your team right from the start of your B Corp journey as you can’t do it alone.
“We needed to establish what was important to us and creating a culture where everyone is heard and can contribute means your B Corp statement is authentic and owned.
“We also would recommend being transparent, while creativity can be a force for good we also needed to be upfront with the sectors that we work in that can be playing catch up as they navigate change in sustainability.”
Ruth Clarke, Six (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Becoming a B Corp has been a hugely positive step for us, and something we’d absolutely encourage other creative businesses to explore.
“If you’re thinking about it, start with the Impact Assessment. Treat it as a diagnostic tool first – you’ll probably discover that you’re already doing a lot of positive things for your team, community and the environment, but simply haven’t captured or measured them yet.
“Our second tip is to focus on the areas where creative businesses naturally have influence: how you support your people and community, and the environmental impact of your operations.
“Finally, remember that B Corp is about continuous improvement. Certification is just the starting point – the real value comes from using the framework to keep strengthening your impact as you work towards recertification.”
Ricardo Martins, Epoch (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Becoming a B Corp was a natural step for us at S&B Originals. For 20+ years we’d built the business around doing the right thing, not just environmentally but for our team and wider community. B Corp gives us a framework to measure and improve that.
“My advice? If you’re thinking about going for it, chances are you’re already doing a lot right so don’t be daunted. Ask for help and chat to others who have been on that journey. And if it feels like too much, start small, become a Living Wage employer, get involved in your local community. The B Corp badge is great, but working ethically is what matters most.”
Sara Strickland, S&B Originals (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Becoming B Corp Certified is vital for any business wanting to shout about their environmental or social credentials. Without this mark of trust and authenticity, you risk ‘talking the talk’ but not ‘walking the walk’.
“Being B Corp Certified means understanding and evidencing what you do (in fine detail), as well as understanding how you can improve, not to mention being honest and transparent about it.
“If you’re considering the B Corp journey, amazing! It has been invaluable for our business in so many ways. My best piece of advice would be to work with a B Leader to help guide you through the process as it is both lengthy and detailed. Be prepared to look at every corner of your business under a microscope, embrace that challenge and reap the multitude of benefits later.
Simon Winter, Winter Design (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“My first ‘tip’ would be to recognise that becoming a B Corp starts with the right mindset. It’s definitely not about ticking boxes and filling-in forms (although there is a fair bit of that!). It’s all about looking at how your business really works – how you treat people, how you make decisions, the impact you’re having on the world around you. Once you start thinking like that, the assessment becomes much more interesting (possibly even enjoyable?).
“You’ll discover things you’re already doing well, and start finding ideas for doing things even better. Absolutely get the whole team involved, be open and honest, and keep good evidence as you go. The real reward isn’t just the certification. It’s building a better, more inclusive and more thoughtful business along the way.”
Phil Robinson, Proctor + Stevenson (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“The biggest tip I’d give to any business considering B Corp is to treat it as a framework for improvement. From working on your own certification and speaking to clients who have through the process, the businesses that get the most value are those that are honest about where they are now and use the assessment to prioritise meaningful change. B Corp gives you structure, language and accountability, but it works best if it’s embedded into how decisions are made day to day.”
Elli Robinson, AMBITIOUS (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
“Our biggest tip for becoming a B Corp is to treat each pillar of the B Impact Assessment as its own project. Breaking the process into manageable chunks makes it far less overwhelming and helps you stay focused. Remember, everything must be backed by evidence, so transparency is key from the start.
“At its core, B Corp is about putting structure behind your intentions. It’s about committing to continuous improvement and using your business as a force for good. For us, that’s included everything from strengthening our policies to volunteering initiatives and driving measurable impact for people and the planet. It’s an ongoing commitment to do better and keep challenging ourselves to raise the bar.”
Andrea Jonat, Grace & Green (BCI profile | B Corps profile)
“Becoming a B Corp as a digital agency starts with aligning your mission, operations, and impact. Begin by understanding the B Impact Assessment and benchmarking your current practices. Strengthen governance by embedding purpose into your legal structure. Improve employee wellbeing, diversity, and professional development. Audit your environmental footprint—optimize energy use, hosting, and remote work policies. We engaged Andy Hawkins at Business On Purpose to demystify the Impact Assessment and guide us through the process; this proved invaluable.”
Pete Williams, Gibe Digital (BCI profile | B Corp profile)
Vision or mission statements often go unnoticed. But these statements are strategically and operationally critical.
But what are they, why are they important and why do you need mission and vision statements, if you aren’t a global brand?
In this article, we’ll dive into the importance of mission and vision statements. What they are, how to write them and most importantly, how the align with your communications strategy for maximum impact.
Vision statements and mission statements are clear and concise statements, designed to convey a company aims, values and direction. They may seem small and inconsequential, but they can have a huge impact on your culture, communications and operations.
Mission and vision statements are often seen as interchangeable. But they’re different and distinct.
A vision statement describes the ‘why,’ or the meaning behind a company’s actions. A mission statement describes exactly how the organisation hopes to achieve the vision and how it serves its goals.
Well-thought-out mission and vision statements can bring a lot of benefits.
They can help consumers and staff fully understand your brand, first and foremost.
But they can also help communicate your company values, outline company direction and values – which is a baseline for building customer loyalty.
Some of the largest brands in the world build their brand around mission and vision statements. But so do smaller businesses. You don’t have to be a giant to set yourself apart from the competition. So here are some of the advantages of strong vision and mission statements for your company:
Purpose, values and goals. These are the three main elements of your missions statement.
Within this short statement you must declare why your company exists and why you serve your customers. It serves to communicate the overarching direction and purpose to your employees, customers and other stakeholders.
Here are our top tips on writing a good mission statement for your business:
1. Keep it brief: a mission statement should be short enough to remember but meaningful enough to matter.
2. State what your company does: start with the essentials. For example, a car manufacturer might emphasise delivering safe, affordable vehicles.
3. Explain how you do it: boil your operations and approach down to a simple, honest description of how your organisation works.
4. Clarify why you do it: these are you values and your motivations for doing what you do. Not the commercial benefit.
5. Bring it all together: Avoid jargon, stay specific and ensure the statement genuinely reflects your business and your what, how and why.
A vision statement is a similarly.short, memorable summary of your organisation’s long‑term ambition. As well as your values it should set the direction of travel. It should also be inspirational, people need to believe in it to follow it.
So it’s best to keep it brief, clear and focus… and this is how:
1. Start with an outline: What do you aim to achieve, and why does it matter? Sketch out the future you want for your organisation and the people you serve.
2. Involve your team: a vision only works if people believe in it. Ask employees what motivates them and use their insight to shape a statement that unites and energises.
3. Keep it short: avoid jargon. Make it easy to recall and repeat.
4. Be bold: a powerful vision should excite people and align with your core values.
Your vision and mission statement defines why your company exists, as well as your hopes for the future. Here are some inspiring vision and mission statement examples from some of the world’s leading brands.
Mission: To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.
Vision: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy
Mission: To entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling.
Vision: To be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information.
Mission: to offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.
Vision: To create a better everyday life for the many people impacted by our business.
These are just three examples from three giants of industry. But you don’t have to be a titanic brand to have a crystal clear vision and mission.
For all of these brands, and for every business that established this cultural and operational benchmark, the mission and vision statements act as a barometer and a baseline.
These statments keep you, your operations and your communications true to your underlying values. So whatever strategy or tactics come next, you have these statements as a tangible factor to keep you on track.
A strong marketing and PR strategy links mission and vision and places tactial and tangiable communications strategies in place to communicate these messages.
Everything you put out, whether that’s a press release, a social post or piece of video content should come back to these elements.
The mission gives you your starting point. The vision, your direction of travel.
Communications strategies can then overlay and intersect between these, ensuring that every piece of messaging, however big or small, is always shaped and informed by what you and how and why you do it.
For a start-up, Mission and vision statements also help define your brand identity. Help you to position yourself, competitively and strategically, in a crowded market.
They offer clarity, focus and a shared reference point for your team. Giving them something to believe in. For you customers they do exactly the same. They establish a set of shared goals and beliefs, a rallying point for your customers to hold onto.
Now a mission and vision statement won’t solve every challenge. But what they will do is give you the confidence you need to communicate something with clarity.
With this clarity and confidence, your communications becomes sharper. Your storytelling, more relevant and engaging… all of which contributes towards you and your business making a greater impact where it matters most.
In-person meetings might be the gold standard when it comes to fostering familiarity with your clients, but self-shot videos of you and your company might just run them a close second. Why? Because it’s a medium that works really well at capturing who you are, giving people a little sneak peek behind the scenes, and fostering brand loyalty.
We do appreciate that introducing yourself to the world can be a slightly strange experience, we’ve been there! But there are a number of compelling reasons to consider going for it:
Viewers are now far more forgiving of self-shot content than they were even a few years ago, so don’t worry if your budget doesn’t stretch to perfectly lit, noise-treated studios. Authenticity is the keyword here: you’re the experts, you’re the people current or potential clients will be speaking to.
‘Before you start filming, it is absolutely essential to plan down to the finest of details, and then you get on set and rip it up on day one.’
Niko Pueringer – Corridor Digital
We’ve put together a step-by-step guide to getting the most out of the filming kit you probably already own, leaving you to concentrate on what it is you really want to say.
Phone cameras and webcams struggle to capture complex or small-print patterns. This results in a visual distortion (known as moiré) that makes it appear as if your clothing is jittering or jumping.
It can also soften the overall image thanks to the available bandwidth being taken up in attempting to capture the patterns. It’s safest to stick to plain colours. Sorry to those with a love of jazzy shirts!
Cameras can struggle to capture the full dynamic range (this is the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of an image that our eyes can see). Filming with a window behind you will create a very large bright object with a shady silhouette of you in the middle. Atmospheric but not very informative.
Cameras love light, the brighter and more evenly lit your shot, the better it will look. Aim to shoot with any windows behind the camera, this way you are nicely lit with the brightest light available to you.
Try to shoot during the day when there is plenty of natural light. Shooting at night using household lights will force the camera to ‘work harder’. In a similar way to what happens when you turn up the volume on a stereo, this will create more distortion in the image.
If in any doubt, record a little segment and watch it back. You may notice that lamp behind you is appearing much brighter than you were expecting. Not a problem, just move it out of shot while you’re filming.
Don’t be afraid of using your phone, if it was good enough for Danny Boyle then it’s ok with me. Yes, I love the footage from our professional-grade cameras, but sometimes the ability to whip a phone out and start filming in a matter of seconds, all to a good enough standard, is the best option.
Viewers may be relatively relaxed about the visual quality of a video, but they do expect good quality sound. Think about what time you’re going to shoot: if you know the 10:15 to Cardiff always passes your window promptly, why not push filming back to 10:30 onwards?
You can massively improve the quality of your video by buying a cheap lavalier (clip-on) mic. Something like a Rode Lavalier Go is cheap, sounds much better than the audio captured on a camera mic, and is really straightforward to use. Most phones will have a free audio notes app and these are also a great option as portable audio recorders.
Deciding what format your video will take is a great start; is it going to be an interview or open discussion for example? Writing a rough script in advance can help clarify your thoughts. Go through and highlight the key phrases that remind you what you want to say, then write down just the highlighted phrases and use this as a prompt.
Equally, you may feel more comfortable just discussing the subject on the spot, and this often leads to the best outcomes: not overthinking answers can result in more natural footage.
It may be helpful to ask someone to sit behind the camera and deliver your answers to them. For most people it feels more natural speaking to a person rather than a camera.
If you’re anything like me on camera, I tend to relax a bit after the first couple of minutes (apologies in advance for the pre-prepared bad jokes I have stashed to cover those first-minute nerves!).
The lesson? Record a couple of takes. Sure, 80% of them will be similar, but occasionally you’ll nail a particular section that bit better and FGTOLOCAO (Finally Get That Overly Long Overly Complicated Acronym Out).
Planning on editing a few people together? A mix of answers can prove invaluable. A longer speech is great for covering a topic in more detail. A short sound bite is great to quickly reaffirm another person’s view or offer the counter narrative.
Compared to how we write, we speak and act very differently. We have a habit of adding ‘ummms’ and ‘ahhs’ (it’s a natural way our body creates some breathing space to recall and form the next statement). You might also have noticed that people often blink after finishing a sentence, editors often describe this as the body’s way of editing the world around it and creating some order (we’re very much artists, not scientists).
Viewers tend to prefer a well thought out answer to a perfectly polished one. If you want to re-shoot then, by all means, feel free but don’t worry about perfection: sincerity is the key here.
Our Video Toolkits give you the tools to brand your videos consistently, but more importantly, they’re super easy to implement. We’ve talked about these before, but it’s well worth a look!
Most importantly, don’t forget you can do as many takes as you feel comfortable with. And you might just enjoy it!
If this has left you with burning questions about self-shooting, or any other video-related stuff, then please do feel free to get in touch at [email protected]
BRAVA, a leading provider of high-quality coaching in the art and business of voice, is proud to announce a new partnership with Films @ 59, Bristol’s premier film and television studio complex.
This collaboration will see Films @ 59 provide world-class studio facilities for BRAVA’s extensive programme of group voice acting workshops and masterclasses, further strengthening Bristol and the South West as a global hub for voice excellence.
BRAVA is renowned for bringing the very best voice coaches from around the globe to Bristol and the South West, offering elite-level training that spans performance, technique, and the commercial realities of the voice industry. Through this partnership, Films @ 59 now offers the ideal environment to combine dynamic workout sessions with professional studio recording, giving participants a seamless, industry-relevant training experience.
The partnership enables BRAVA to deliver its workshops and masterclasses in fully equipped, high-spec studio spaces, allowing artists to train, record, and refine their craft in facilities used by leading productions across film, television, and voice media.
Melissa Thom, CEO of BRAVA, said:
“This partnership with Films @ 59 is a hugely exciting step for BRAVA. Our mission has always been to provide world-class voice coaching and to make Bristol and the South West a destination for excellence in the industry. Having access to such outstanding studio facilities means our artists can train and record at the highest professional level, right here at home. Together, we’re not just serving our local community, we’re putting Bristol firmly on the global voice map.”
Films @ 59, widely recognised for its state-of-the-art studios and commitment to creative excellence, sees the partnership as a natural alignment of values and ambition.
George Panayiotou, Business Director at Films @ 59, commented:
“We’re delighted to welcome BRAVA to Films @ 59. Their reputation for attracting the highest quality coaches and nurturing exceptional voice talent perfectly complements our facilities and our commitment to supporting the creative industries in Bristol and the South West. By bringing training, workouts, and professional recording together under one roof, we’re helping to elevate the region’s profile and showcase it as a serious global player in the voice and screen industries.”
Together, BRAVA and Films @ 59 aim to create a best-in-class training environment that supports emerging and established voice artists alike, strengthens the regional creative economy, and positions Bristol and the South West as an international centre for voice talent, innovation, and opportunity.
BRAVA’s series of advanced masterclasses will take place throughout 2026.
-ends-
Immersive Ideas Founder Sarah Morris explores how ‘immersive’ emerged as a practice and methodology, not just a passing trend, but a cultural shift shaped by decades of experimentation.
The word immersive is now everywhere in the live experience industry. It appears across theatre, exhibitions, themed entertainment, festivals, brand activations, and cultural events. Yet its widespread use often obscures the fact that immersive is not a new idea, nor a shallow one. It is a term with a long, contested, and deeply theatrical history, and much much more than just a buzz word.
Immersive did not begin as a marketing label. It emerged through artistic experimentation, theoretical debate, and a growing dissatisfaction with distance between audiences and performance. While many disciplines have contributed to immersive practice, it was actually theatre that crystallised immersive as a cultural movement, articulated its values, and pushed it into the mainstream consciousness.
This article traces the history of immersive practice across theatre and live experience, arguing that immersive is not defined by technology or format, but by a convergence of artistic integrity, world building, audience journey and agency, story, performance, and theatrical design.
Immersion existed long before immersive had a name.
Before immersive became a recognised practice, performance was already concerned with how audiences enter a world rather than simply observe it. Classical theatre traditions were built around proximity, ritual, and shared focus. Greek tragedy used architecture, chorus, rhythm, and repetition to draw audiences into a collective emotional state. Medieval mystery plays moved through streets and civic spaces, embedding story into daily life and collapsing the distance between performance and reality.
Theatre scholar Dr Emma Cole notes that immersion has “intrigued humanity since antiquity,” pointing to the long standing human fascination with belief, illusion, and participation.
The impulse behind immersive work, the desire to step inside a story, to feel present within it, predates any contemporary terminology.
What emerges here is immersive as a practice not a label, it relies on trust, belief, and the willingness of audiences to enter into a world together. These principles sit at the heart of even the most mainstream immersive work today.
Although immersive thinking exists across many disciplines, it was theatre that transformed immersion from a design technique into a cultural force.
Experimental practitioners rejected the safety of the proscenium and began designing worlds audiences had to enter physically and psychologically. Immersion in theatre was never about comfort. It was about proximity, vulnerability, and consequence.
This is why immersive theatre became a movement, rather than simply a style. It was accompanied by critical writing, artistic intent, and cultural debate. Theatre gave immersion its intellectual backbone.
Alongside theatrical experimentation, theme parks and attractions had been developing immersive environments for decades. Dark rides, walkthrough attractions, and themed lands relied on coherent world building, scenic design, sound, smell, pacing, and audience flow to sustain belief.
Attractions understood something fundamental early on. Immersion depends on consistency. Worlds must operate according to internal logic. Set building, sightlines, operational choreography, and performance all reinforce narrative integrity.
What distinguishes attractions is scale, repeatability, and operational discipline and in contrast what distinguishes theatre is intent, intimacy, and liveness.
The most powerful immersive experiences today draw from both traditions, blending theatrical meaning with the spatial intelligence of attractions design.
The term immersive theatre enters academic discourse in the early 2000s as scholars attempt to name practices that resisted existing categories such as site specific, promenade, or participatory theatre, and naturally around a decade later, marketing terminology.
Dr Gareth White defines immersion as a perceptual and psychological state shaped by spatial orientation and attention.
Dr Josephine Machon emphasises embodiment and audience journey.
Language evolves because practice evolves. Immersive is not a perfect word, but it is a useful one. It sets expectations. It signals intent. It allows different disciplines to speak to one another.
To quote Joe Lycett, “not everything is immersive” But that does not invalidate the term. Language evolves alongside practice. Immersion exists on a spectrum, the word will continue to stretch as the work itself stretches.
Anger at the word immersive often masks discomfort with its popularity. But popularity does not negate legitimacy. It confirms cultural relevance. Don’t call something immersive just to sell tickets, but don’t be trapped by terminology either.
As Cambridge Dictionary quotes “IMMERSIVE – seeming to surround the audience, player, etc. so that they feel completely involved in something”
Language in the arts shifts as practice shifts, and as work needs to be communicated, words spread when they are needed.
For many audiences, immersive theatre became culturally legible through the work of Punchdrunk. Their productions introduced large scale environments, fragmented narratives, and audiences who moved freely through performance worlds rather than sitting passively in front of them. Theatre became the vehicle that carried Immersive into the mainstream.
Punchdrunk did not invent immersive theatre. They would be the first to acknowledge that. In fact, they now more often describe their work as site-responsive rather than immersive. What they did do was translate experimental practice into a form that captured public imagination at scale.
Immersive became something audiences could recognise, seek out, and pay for. Theatre made immersive visible.
Alongside this sat a rich ecosystem of UK companies making immersive, interactive, and participatory work throughout the 2000s, long before immersive became a mainstream label. You Me Bum Bum Train, Shunt, Les Enfants Terribles, Secret Cinema, Coney, DifferenceEngine, CoLab Theatre, Apocalypse Events, dreamthinkspeak, Blast Theory, Uninvited Guests, Third Angel, Improbable, Rotozaza, Invisible Circus, Lab Collective, Dank Parish, and many others were already experimenting with audience agency, world building, participation, and non theatrical space, this is also where a lot of the current practitioner (including myself) who have gone on to make more commercial experiences cut their teeth.
This list is far from exhaustive. It exists as a reminder that immersive practice is not new. It is rooted in decades of experimentation, often happening in warehouses, abandoned buildings, churches, shops, offices, basements, and outdoor sites, almost never on a traditional stage. These pioneers laid the groundwork for everything that followed.
In contrast to those early days, immersive experiences now operates at scale. Ticketing platforms have reported sharp rises in demand, with Eventbrite recording an 83 percent increase in searches for immersive experiences year on year, and DesignMyNight reporting an 88 percent rise in interest. The global immersive entertainment market has been valued at £98 billion – The Independent, pointing to sustained public appetite rather than fleeting novelty.
With that growth comes friction. The word immersive is now used widely, sometimes loosely, and sometimes badly. Misuse can be damaging, not because the term itself lacks meaning, but because poor delivery erodes audience trust and undervalues the craft behind the work.
The much publicised failed Wonka experience is a useful example. It was marketed as immersive because that was the intention. Tickets sold for a reason. Audiences wanted to believe in the promise. The failure was not the ambition, nor the terminology, but the absence of expertise, structure, and understanding needed to deliver immersive in practice.
The risk to the industry is not that immersive is used too broadly. Projection mapped digital art in a gallery space has every right to call itself immersive. So do theatre, live events, attractions, and hybrid digital worlds. The real risk is the wrong people making the work without the skills, experience, or long term practice required to support it.
Immersive is not the problem. Inexpert delivery is, or the work being created without intent as a money grab, but this shouldn’t tarnish the industry or the word immersive.
And The Stage rightly observed that “the term immersive has been maligned and misinterpreted but it is still the word under which some of the most exciting theatre is being made.”
Immersive went mainstream because people wanted it. The responsibility now is to make it well.
Immersive is not a genre. It is a methodology.
At its core, immersive practice brings together artistic integrity, world building, audience journey, story, performance, theatrical design, and craft-led making. Sometimes this is supported by advanced technology, sometimes it is entirely analogue. When these elements align with intention, immersion is not applied, it emerges.
What has changed in recent years is scale, support, and reach. Immersive is no longer operating at the margins. It is now underpinned by formal funding streams and strategic investment, including national initiatives such as Immersive Arts UK, alongside long established public funders like Arts Council Engand. This has enabled artists and companies to develop original IP, experiment, tour, build sustainably, and take creative risks that would previously have been inaccessible.
At the same time, rapid advances in technology have expanded what immersive can be. Spatial audio, real time engines, mixed reality, projection mapping, responsive environments, and networked digital platforms have allowed immersive work to exist beyond physical sites, opening up digital and hybrid spaces that are participatory, persistent, and globally connected. Audiences can now step into worlds that live online, overlap with physical environments, or evolve over time, often at a fraction of the cost of traditional large scale builds.
Alongside funding and technology sits a growing professional ecosystem. Communities such as The Immersive Experience Network and World Experience Organisation have helped formalise knowledge sharing, advocacy, skills development, and international collaboration. This matters as it creates clearer career pathways, supports freelancers and small studios, and continues to generate new roles across design, production, performance, fabrication, engineering, and digital development.
The question is not whether a term is used imperfectly, but whether the work behind it is intentional, crafted, and coherent, when it does it remains a meaningful way to describe work rooted in world building, audience journey, and lived experience rather than novelty alone. We may never all agree on the terminology, but the trajectory is clear: immersive is a practice and what it describes is real, growing, and here to stay.
This is not a phase. It is a movement.
Immersive Experience Network: IEN Summit 2024
Immersive Ideas Ltd is not a name we arrived at casually. We own it because we have spent over a decade living and breathing the work that defines it, in it’s simplest form putting audiences inside experiences, not just in front of them.
Our practice has been built through making immersive work across theatre, live events, festivals, attractions, brands, and experiential environments, long before the term became widely used. Through this we have learned what immersive actually demands when real people are present, moving through space, making choices, trusting the world around them, and responding in real time.
Our skills come from doing the work. From testing audience behaviour, designing and building spaces that have to hold together under pressure, and making creative decisions that balance emotion, logistics, safety, scale, budget, and meaning.
We understand immersive because we have built it, broken it, refined it, and built it again, often in the strangest of spaces, often under tight constraints of budget, time, and circumstance.
Our past experience has given us a strong instinct for emotional logic, clear audience journey, and the subtle mechanics of trust. We know what audiences want, what clients and collaborators need, and how to design experiences that feel generous, coherent, and alive. This kind of thinking only comes from long term, hands on immersive practice.
We use the word immersive with care because it accurately describes the work we specialise in – If a project is not immersive in nature, in some form or another, it is probably not the right fit for us, and that clarity is deliberate and honest.
If you want to work with people who understand where immersive practice comes from and where it can go next, we would genuinely love to talk.
You can explore more writing on immersive practice, world building, and immersive experience design on our website, or get in touch to discuss a project, collaboration, or commission.
Immersive is not about pulling audiences in. It is about building worlds, spaces, attractions, and live experiences that earn belief, establish trust, and reward curiosity.
When we say at Immersive Ideas Ltd “we make reality sweat” we really do mean it!
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information