DesignersCouch creative Edson Williams is an agency based in London and Amsterdam with more than 10 years experience in the design, marketing, advertising, fashion and music industries. Their impressive creative team is specialized in various disciplines that include 3D art, photography, illustration and art direction, to mention just a few.
Edson Williams is renowned for bringing various aspects of design together like no other. The agency’s clients include Swarovski, Saks 5th Avenue, Nike and Porsche.
Enjoy some of their work, then learn more about the agency and their process below in this interview.
Q. How did the Edson Williams agency come to be?
The agency was founded in 2001 after Edson Williams left Nike Europe, where his last challenge was setting up the image design department. His love for photography led him to start representing photographers.
After 5 years of dealing only with photography, Edson missed the diversity of dealing with graphic design, illustration, 3D design and other visual art skills and started representing multiple disciplines like graphic design and illustration.
Q. Tell us a bit about your creative team.
Within the edsonwilliams group we have young upcoming artists and established artists. You will find a mixture of styles as no one’s works looks like anyone else’s work within the agency.
Within the agency we have the fashion photographer light sculptor Andrea Klarin; Concept based photographer Corriette Schoenaerts; automotive and documentary photographer Alex P.; and Children's photographer Achim Lippoth.
Talking about specialties is difficult when it comes to our illustrators, because what sets them apart is their style and the fact that they all love to create typography.
Denise has a feminine touch [BLOCKED] time when you [BLOCKED] realistic work that is almost like photography, you can't guess if it was done by a man or a woman. Some of her other work has a lot of surrealism, and she has recently finished a children's book. You may recognize her style but the outcome is surprising, full of childlike fantasy drawings.
I can say the same for Gijs Kast aka Mr Kast, who is gritty and in your face with his portraits, but then does these lovely erotic illustrations for Durex where you recognize his style but are surprised with the softer touch that exists.
This is also true for Mago, he does strong typography work but just as easily draws a beautiful album cover for Kanye West (didn't get used) and Merijn Hos great with typography builds stunning playful installations and his illustrations have a strong signature style.
Steve Smith aka Neasden Control Centre is a legend in his field, his typography, illustration and graphic design are iconic and designers who know their stuff know his work if not from his shows or his books, his latest being "Lost Control".
Last but not least are the legendary duo Antoine + Manuel, these gents are icons in the design world. Their wallpapers, furniture, graphic design, illustrations, installation and shows are known worldwide, in their book "Antoine + Manuel" you will find a beautiful compilation of almost all their work. I guess their specialty is diversity, with a strong identity.
Q. How do your artists get inspired to create these unique works?
Our artists get inspiration from all sorts of things from, music, movies, fallen leaves on the ground, art movements - it can be anything.
Q. Edson Williams has an international presence, and has been in the business for more than 10 years. How have client demands changed in a decade, and has the agency had to adapt significantly to them?
The change that I have noticed is that clients want the work faster and give us shorter notice. They want it now. The budgets have gone down, and a lot more stock photography is being used. We didn't make any special changes; photographers now shoot digital so the client walks away with the images straight after the shoot. Budget-wise, we just have to be resourceful.
Q. Your agency’s photographic work masterfully utilizes clever lighting to elevate the photos? How is it decided what type of lighting to employ?
Each photographer has his/her own way of using light. Corriette Schoenaerts is very honest and doesn't use her light to manipulate the object she is shooting, but uses light to support the story that she is telling. Andrea Klarin uses his light to emphasis beauty and to create drama; he is more of a light sculpture artist.
Q. On the other hand, your graphic pieces tend to be injected with some amount of playfulness and humour.
Some do have a more playful approach and humor but there is also the work that has subliminal messages. When illustration and type come together, you can be more direct with your message, inviting you to say whatever you want, being it playful or confronting, subtle or in your face.
Q. Tell us about the quote “Don’t follow the followers.”
Thanks for asking about this quote. It's actually half a sentence; I shortened it because you only have 1 second to read it on our website. The whole sentence is "Don' follow the followers, they don't know where they are going."
It's an invitation to people to stop and think who are they quoting, who are they copying in their life...you are doing something because somebody told you to do it like that, but you don't know why?! The person you heard it from also heard it from somebody!!! It is, of course, also an invitation for artists and clients to be original and to be a leader - to take a risk.
Q. Could you give some insight as to how the agency markets itself to win competitive clients, like that of Nokia and Valentino?
I think the key is that we don't follow the followers; we challenge ourselves, stay true to ourselves. Other than that we really don't do anything different from the other agents. We visit clients, show them the work, stay in touch and make sure the clients all know that we have unique and exceptional talent in our agency.
Q. And what role does social media play in your overall marketing strategy?
Nowadays it’s very important so we are on all the right social mediums.
Q. When working with established brands like Swarovski, the vision of the final product is usually very distinct. How much flexibility do your creatives tend to have when conceptualizing and executing work for such clients?
It's different for each job. Sometimes we get a sketch that just needs to be photographically visualized. Most of the time we get a sketch and a moodboard, and the moodboard has a lot of images from our photographer on it. The photographer gets asked to make a treatment and this is when we start to work very close with the agency or client to create the final image.
Q. Who was the most exciting client Edson Williams has worked for?
We had the privilege to work for many amazing clients with great briefs, but made more interesting with great vision, knowing what they wanted to achieve with the assignment and being honest about it.
The many different jobs we have done for Nike have been amazing. Recently for Limited Edition, "Living Floor" (a carpet couturier) was a great brief; they dared to take a risk within their vision.
Q. Any thoughts for someone wondering how to get inspired in their art?
If you are an artist, we recommend that you meditate daily 20 minutes minimum to clear your head. Be open so you can receive all the great inspiring things the world has to offer... be stress free!
Stressed people don't smell the flowers when they walk outside and can't get inspired by a leaf on the ground as they are spending time in their head thinking about their stresses.
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