Brother-sister duo Sadie and Joe Williams have been creating together since childhood. The pair of London natives are also creatives in their own right; Sadie is a well-respected fashion and textile designer, and Joe is a filmmaker. Together, they use their creative languages to meld different worlds into the animations they make, just like the one they made for us.
Tell us a little about your background – how did the two of you begin working together, and what draws you to the kind of work you create?
We are brother and sister, so we have always played and created things together. Joe got a Super8 camera when he was about 10 or less, and we started filming his toys moving in the garden! But later, we both went to Brighton Uni art school, and I studied fashion whilst Joe studied film, so we decided to animate a project I was working on, and our animation work really came out of that. I showed it to Katie Hillier, who I was interning for at the time. And she asked if we could animate jewellery she had designed, and then more work came out of that.
What inspired your approach to J&M Davidson’s Christmas window this year?
Eva, on the J&M Design team, gave us a sketch for the idea of creating a tree using your signature leather fringing, so it all really sprang from that. We decided to make a little forest and include a patchwork of leather colours. We mostly tried to create something that was true to our way of working (quite crafty and handmade), yet elevating it to be refined and charming enough to sit in the beautiful store and historic Burlington Arcade.
How did you translate the brand’s spirit – craftsmanship, quiet curiosity, and understated elegance – into your design?
Having a strong identity to work with means it's easy for us to create things that supplement it visually. So many of the colours and textures we used were inspired by the leather swatches or lookbooks you have created.
Could you take us behind the scenes of the process? From sketch to stop-motion animation, how did the concept come to life?
We brainstorm, coming up with ideas of what or where we imagine the film taking place. Then we find references and create a visual 'world' for the animation. We'll create a moodboard and start pulling out all the materials (art supplies, power tools, wood, paper, paints, etc) we think we might use. And then we get started on making props and backdrops, often holding up the product against our work in progress, to check the colours. It actually took a week to build the trees from scratch! We will set up the animation studio in a way that we can have our sets and props on standby. For J&M Davidson, we have an approach to lighting and mood for the animation. And then we start the long process of animating them together, set by set, making sure we capture what we need to. Once we have shot the film, it comes together quite quickly in the edit; and adding the sound effects and music really brings an extra energy to the action.
The window and animation feel deeply tactile and handcrafted. Why is the physical, handmade element important to your work?
We don't really overthink it; it's just how we are. We have always been quite resourceful and enjoyed making something special out of something that might seem mundane or like scrap to someone else. Essentially, working physically and with your hands is fulfilling and rewarding, too.
What moments of joy or surprise stood out during the making of this project?
It’s always exciting when we line up a really good shot in the camera, and it's lit well, and you can see our little world framed perfectly for the first time as we envisaged it. Watching the animation playback on set is always very rewarding; it can take several hours to set up and animate a moment that only lasts a second or so, but when it moves on screen, it really comes to life! We were also both so satisfied to see the tree and the bags spinning in the completed window! We had designed and mocked up the window beforehand, as well as building and testing the different components individually, but installing it all in the store was the first time we had seen it in its finished state. We’re both delighted with it!
What do you hope people notice or feel when they pass by the Burlington Arcade window or watch the film?
That they may be pleasantly surprised and find some charm in it. There are many Christmas trees out there, but none of them look like ours!
Finally, what’s next for you both – any upcoming projects or ideas you’re excited to explore?
We are always sending each other inspiration (art, films, techniques) back and forth, so there are always loads of things we want to try! We have an idea to create some film work and animation for Sadie’s own brand. We work independently of each other too, so we focus on our solo work as well as our collaborative work. As a duo, we’ve been approached about a couple potential projects in the pipeline, so we will see!