Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/716619
6 P E R S P E C T I V E | S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6 contributors Production Designer, Art Director and event designer NICK BASSETT studied furniture and industrial design before embarking on a career in film and television. "In 1993," he says, "I was lucky enough to be involved in a US production shooting in Auckland and I have been busy ever since." His television credits span the fictional globe. He has worked as an Art Director on Young Hercules, Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Blood Crime. Other credits include Art Director on Ike: Countdown to D-Day for which he received an Emmy ® nomination and Murder in Greenwich, set dresser on Cast Away and Supervising Art Director on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. A career highlight of Mr. Bassett's was working as an Art Director on Avatar, tasked with building and detailing aircraft and vehicles; he shared the 2010 Art Directors Guild Award for these efforts. Based in Auckland, he has worked in the film industry for over 23 years in Asia, the Pacific Islands and at home in New Zealand. RUTH DE JONG received a BFA in painting and photography from Texas Christian University. After she completed several painting commissions and a stint in Italy, Oscar ® -nominated production designer Jack Fisk added her to his team on There Will Be Blood, The Tree of Life, Water for Elephants and The Master. She became a Production Designer herself on Jared Moshe's Dead Man's Burden, a classic Western set in the 1870s. Chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook then hired her to design their new restaurant, Son of a Gun, and food critics raved about her transformative décor, so—alongside her brothers, Philip and Peter—she then launched an interior design firm and handcrafted furniture line called De Jong & Co. She is currently working with David Lynch, designing Twin Peaks for Showtime, while continuing her interior design work and painting. Ms. De Jong is a Southern California native and resides in downtown Los Angeles. GEOFFREY KIRKLAND is an English Production Designer who studied film at London's Royal College of Art a year behind Ridley Scott, moved to San Francisco to work on his first movie, Alan Parker's Shoot the Moon, and stayed for ten years before relocating to Los Angeles. Since that time, he has been nominated for an Academy Award ® for The Right Stuff, is a two-time BAFTA Award winner for his work on Bugsy Malone and Children of Men—in addition to another nomination for his work on Angela's Ashes. Mr. Kirkland received a Primetime Emmy ® for the television movie Hemingway & Gellhorn, and was nominated three times by the Art Directors Guild for Children of Men, Hemingway & Gellhorn and Get Low. His other credits include Midnight Express, Fame, Shoot the Moon, War Games, Birdy, Captain EO, Mississippi Burning, Come See the Paradise, Desperate Measures, The Life of David Gale and After the Sunset. Production Designer/educator JOSEPH GARRITY holds a BA degree from Temple University's School of Communications and Theater and an MFA in Production Design from the American Film Institute Conservatory. Over 32 years, Mr. Garrity has designed many feature films including My Girl, Drop Dead Fred, Son in Law, Imaginary Crimes, Sunshine Cleaning and Cake. He meet Christopher Guest in 1988, was selected to design Guest's directorial debut feature film The Big Picture, and has designed all his films since, including Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. Mr. Garrity's latest project is Mr. Church, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Eddie Murphy. He also teaches and is the Senior- Filmmaker-in-Residence for Production Design at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles. JEAN-JACQUES L'HENAFF holds a bachelor of science degree in product and transportation design from Ecole Superieure de Design Industriel in Paris and has served as Vice President of design for American Standard Brands since October 2013. Prior to joining the company, he had been a design executive for Kohler Asia, Audiovox and Terk Technologies, and held various design management positions for consulting firms such as Henry Dreyfuss Associates and The Arnell Group in New York City. In reinvigorating the design function at American Standard, Mr. L'Henaff and his team have taken a more user-centric approach to the design process. "We focus not only on the product's look, feel and function, L'Henaff said, "but also on the overall experience we want the user to have when interacting with them." He has expanded the company's internal design team, which includes a group at the company's design studio in New York and other colleagues situated globally.