Heather Shaw, founder of Vita Motus design firm, boasts a multidimensional career in environmental, industrial, and transportation design with a conscious emphasis on functional purpose, sustainable production and non-toxic materials. With a BS in industrial/transportation design from Art Center College, she began her career designing cars for Audi / Volkswagen from 2004 - 2009, specializing in Concept Vehicle Designs and future alternative energy products. In 2006, she opened Vita Motus Design studio, through which she also concentrates on graphic, product and environmental design. From designing cars and future energy products at Audi to co-designing large-scale art and entertainment installations with The Do LaB for the past five years, Heather has excelled in 360-degree interactive designs that have premiered globally. These designs have opened opportunities in trade show booths, vehicle launches and creatively showcasing new technology. CLIENT INFO | American Idol Season 11 2012 , CBS, FOX, FREEMANTLE DELIVERABLES | Vita Motus was asked to be the production designer for the season 11 American Idol for the 13 weeks of the Live TV show. the #1 show in American wanted a modern make-over. Concept The design features an oval LED wall behind the contestant that splits into six separate panels, each of which open and rotate in either direction. But most impressive is the clean design – themed with movement – that permits 3-dimensional media mapping, from the ceiling to the floor. From moment to moment the entire set can be fully visually transformed to meet the ever-changing mood and emotion of musical performance and live television. There is a sculptural flow in the set – the pieces in the ceiling are built to mimic being flown in the wind, the floor has built-in light boxes underneath. The walls contain front projection, rear projection and LED capability. TEAM VITA MOTUS DESIGN STUDIO Production Designer and Cheif Design | 3D Model & Render | Development & Fabrication Plans STITCH EXPERIENCE DESIGN Executive Producer Creative Direction | Project Management CLIENT INFO | The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual festival featuring many genres of music as well as large scale sculptural art and multimedia environmental installations. The Do Lab is an event creation and production company, commissioned by Coachella to create one of five stage environments. DELIVERABLES |The Do Lab Misting Oasis #5 – an interactive dance and performance space on more than an acre of land centrally located as an integral part of the festival. Concept For 2010, it was the Do Lab desire to lean more towards architectural large-scale structures and really blend the environments from years past with a main stage feel. This year was a test in scale, size, height, color and shade. This stage was designed to break from the usual square truss the festival goer will normally see. Instead we designed an organic yet tectonic and artisitic stage environment that showcased many musicians and a circus. Here we used Aluminum truss, tensile architectural fabrics, and a creative three toned wooded shell to give the participants something they had never seen before. The Misting Oasis was designed based on the idea of a sanctuary for arts and entertainment in the middle of loud, hot, and boisterous festival environment. Blending architecture and sculpture, a 360 degree event-scape was built to immerse the festival participant in a multi-sensory experience. Similar to 2006/2007/2008/2009 installation. THE Do LAB Production Direction | Cheif Design | Fabrication | Creative Direction | Project Management VITA MOTUS DESIGN STUDIO Design Consultant | Co-Design | 3D Model & Render | Development & Fabrication Plans | On Site Build and Project Management | CLIENT INFO | The Do LaB is a Los Angeles based company specializing in interactive environments, event production and creative lighting design all in service of its highest mission: creating experience as art form. Taking an organic approach to everything they design and create, the Do LaB team strives to bring their visions to life with natural materials, found objects and sustainable resources. DELIVERABLES | The Pagoda - Vita Motus was commisioned to consult and help realize the Pagoda Design from the Do Lab. THE Do LAB Production Direction | Cheif Design / Creative Direction | Fabrication | Creative Direction | Project Management | Concept Creative VITA MOTUS DESIGN STUDIO Design Consultant | Co-Design | 3D Model & Render | Development & Fabrication Plans | 3D to rapid prototype CLIENT INFO | O2 Creative Solutions. o2 creates unique experiences that ignite the senses. It is through superior research and a fully integrated team that o2 is able to craft unique immersive environments, interactive spaces and custom events. DELIVERABLES | o2 Commsioned Vita Motus and the Do Lab to innovate a new and relative concept for the SPecial event at the New York Auto Show Launch of the Lexus LF Concept 2011. concept The main task for this Lexus event was to express the high-end luxury market of the Lexus brand with a focus on advanced technology. For o2 we created a package of 6 different well thought out concepts that could be used for the launch. They choose this Wind / Faceted concept because it resonated well with the new design language Lexus is implementing in their grill and throughout. Once the Concept was choosen. Vita Motus focused on designing out most of the details before handing it to o2 Creative Solutions to produce the designs and carry out the event in April 2011. This launch will tour for the year to Auto Shows around the country. VITA MOTUS DESIGN STUDIO Design Consultant | Co-Design | 3D Model & Render | Concept Creative THE Do LAB Design Consultant | Co-Design | Concept Creative o2 Creative Solutions Production Design | Creative Direction | Event Production | Video Production Team | 3D projection CLIENT INFO | The Do LaB is a Los Angeles based company specializing in interactive environments, event production and creative lighting design all in service of its highest mission: creating experience as art form. Taking an organic approach to everything they design and create, the Do LaB team strives to bring their visions to life with natural materials, found objects and sustainable resources. DELIVERABLES | Vita Motus has worked closely with the Do Lab for 5 years designing stages that we have been able to build all over the world at festivals like Coachella (5 years), Electric Picnic, Lightning in a Bottle, Boom, All Points West, Rothbury, Mile High Festival, Summer Sonic, Love box, Sound Fields, Global Gathering, High Voltage, StageCoach, Symbiosis and many many many more. Concept One particular concept that traveled the world from 2008 - 2010 was our large-scale structures made of shipping pallets, which are eco-friendly, inexpensive, and may be sold back to the shipping yard for reuse. We created unique multidimensional art installations that were used as performance spaces and inspired by community conscious-driven designs. The design asthetic of the Do Lab for these years included the use of fantastical organic shapes that would create functional event structures that break from the normal square white event tents. Shipping pallets are a locally sourced material in any city all over the world, therefore creating less shipping fees and waste. These structures were built in Portugal, Japan, Puerto Rico, Ireland, UK, USA and many more. Made with an alluminium truss core the sculptures were organic and surreal, yet architectural and strong. (EDIT!!!) THE Do LAB Production Direction | Co-Design | Fabrication | Creative Direction | Project Management VITA MOTUS Design Consultant | Co-Design | 3D Model & Render | Development & Fabrication Plans | On Site Build and Project Management CLIENT INFO | ninja tune, amon tobin DELIVERABLES | AMON TOBIN Stage Design – Develop and Design a mind blowing stage concept to launch Amon's new album. This stage has been launched and is currently touring with Amon all over the world for 2011. CONCEPT For Amon, I wanted to come up with something no one had seen before. After listening to his blend of organic and technical music from the ISAM album, I devised a digital roots concept by using a 2-Bit / pixel sculpture that would come alive when 3D mapped with some of the most amazing digital projection ever seen. It features an array of interconnected pixels, including one central stack that acts as Amon's cube. Extreme attention went into the placement of each piece to create a surreal 3 dimensional space. It is a 2.5-ton structure made of wood and steel situated so two sides of each box face the audiences at 45 degrees so the images hit both sides for a richer 3-D effect. The negative space and elements that appear to defy gravity are placed purposefully around Amon Cube, a semi-transparent control room (high tech smart glass) where he plays his laptop and frosts and unfrosts the glass lending a sense of spontaneity. HEATHER SHAW (VitaMotus) Concept Creative / Set Designer | 3D Model & Render | Development & Fabrication Plans | On Site Build and Project Management ALEX LAZARUS Executive Producer | On Site Build and Project Management STEFANO NOVELLI Fabrication | On SIte Build and Project Management VSQUARED LABS Visual Content Development LEVAITHAN Visual Mapping Software / Visual Content Development Real-time HD projection mapping and generative, audio-reactive graphics, mixed with traditionally rendered media creating imagery to represent the journey concert-goers would experience. CLIENT INFO | SpeakerCraft is the world leader in custom installed In-wall Speakers and electronics. From its genesis as a home audio electronics retailer, Speakercraft has been helping people enjoy their home and make it uniquely theirs, by offering the finest in home audio speakers and components for the past thirty years. The Do Lab is an event creation and production company, commissioned by Speakercraft to create their EXPO booth for the CEDIA Convention 2010. DELIVERABLES | Booth design and build for the CEDIA EXPO 2010 in Atlanta, GA. CONCEPT | The client asked for a show stopper to help stand out and break the norm, a unique space to display their entire product line. Do Lab and Vitamotus combined to design a space including unique scuptures of recycled shipping pallets, an enclosed area for private meetings and architecturally spectacular geometric walls for product displays. The final design functioned perfectly for the show and flowed well with Speakercraft's company profile. THE DO LAB\ Production Direction | Co- Designer / Creative Direction | Fabrication | On Site Build and Project Management VITAMOTUS Design Consultant | Co-Designer / Creative Direction | 3D Model & Render | Development & Fabrication Plans | On Site Build and Project Management | CLIENT INFO | The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual festival featuring many genres of music as well as large scale sculptural art and multimedia environmental installations. The Do Lab is an event creation and production company, commissioned by Coachella to create one of five stage environments. DELIVERABLES | The Do Lab Misting Oasis #6 – an interactive dance and performance space on more than an acre of land centrally located as an integral part of the festival. CONVCEPT | For 2011, the Do Lab wanted to GO BIG! This year was a test in scale, size, height, color and shade. The client has relied on the Do Lab and Vitamotus for years to provide a unique multidimensional stage and art installation as a performance space. This design was created to have the look of defying gravity. The center arch of aluminum truss is held in place by an array of cables that also holds the fabric in place. The Misting Oasis was designed based on the idea of a sanctuary for arts and entertainment in the middle of loud, hot, and boisterous festival environment. Blending architecture and sculpture, a 360 degree event-scape was built to immerse the festival participant in a multi-sensory experience. Similar to 2006/2007/2008/2009/2010 installation. THE DO LAB Production Direction | Cheif Design / Concept Creative | Fabrication | Creative Direction | Project Management VITA MOUTS Design Consultant | Co-Design | 3D Model & Render | Development & Fabrication Plans | On Site Build and Project Management | CLIENT INFO | The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual festival featuring many genres of music as well as large scale sculptural art and multimedia environmental installations. This past year Coachella asked The Do Lab to propose a new structure for one of the main dance tents. DELIVERABLES |The Do Lab commissioned Vita Motus to design a concept for the 2011-12 Coachella Gobi tent structure. An estimated 30,000 square foot structure that they could use use for many years. Concept This 2011 Proposal was inspired by a blend of the organic and the technical. The shape is reminiscent of a snail shell while the surface is broken up into pixels. These pixels are divided and colored in a smooth color spectrum to bring movement and depth. All of the lines begin from the back of the audience and culminate where the stage would be, creating movement and direction from function. The Structure would be held together with large steel tubing and cables, lending to many ideas for innovative lighting and projections from the inside and outside. This proposal is still on the table for future Coachella Festivals. VITA MOTUS DESIGN STUDIO Concept Creative | Creative Direction and Designer THE DO LAB Co-Design | Structural Design CLIENT INFO | The Do LaB is a Los Angeles based company specializing in interactive environments, event production and creative lighting design all in service of its highest mission: creating experience as art form. Taking an organic approach to everything they design and create, the Do LaB team strives to bring their visions to life with natural materials, found objects and sustainable resources. DELIVERABLES | Woogie Stage Design – Vita Motus was commisioned by the Do Lab to design and build the second main stage at Lightning in a Bottle, 2011. This stage was used as an interactive dance and performance space on land centrally located as an integral part of the festival. CONCEPT This Woogie Stage for Lightning in a Bottle was designed to be bright and innovative. The pyramid shape was inspired by ancient tribal structures, while the color colro spectrum gives the design a modern feel. The space was designed in a triangle of pyramids to create energy in the center for optimum viewing. In this design, there was specific attention to designing the backstage into the structure. The fabric backdrop for the performers doubles as the backstage shade structure. This structure is still available and is being rented for new festivals this year. VITA MOTUS Cheif Designer | 3D Model & Render | Development & Fabrication Plans | Fabrication | Creative Direction | On Site Build and Project Management THE DO LAB Production Direction | Fabrication | Project Management Vita Motus is a multi-faceted design firm that uses unique, forward thinking techniques to deliver final products that aim at setting trends and marking innovate new paths. The process is driven by a balance of artistic inspiration and passion with industrial design rational and research methods. This design thinking breaks boundaries and challenges what is considered normal to create a world of new opportunities. "Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure." - Albert Einstein The firm was opened in 2004 by CEO Heather Shaw and has been using strategy and design research to deliver fresh concepts in many fields. Design developments are concentrated in graphic, product, environmental, transportation and fashion segments. See change as an opportunity... Process Hear The research phase will begin by working together with the client or creative director to discover the basic parameters of a project. Answering main questions like, What exactly will the product be, who will it be for, how does it need to function, etc.? This process will vary between clients and projects but always requires avant-garde discovery exercises for consumer research. Create Next, design inspiration, the story and passion behind a design can be the difference between convention and innovation. At Vita Motus we like to analyze the project in unique ways to let some of the functional aspects create design opportunities. Balancing artistic inspiration and passion with industrial design rational and research methods, breaks boundaries and challenges what is considered normal to create a world of new opportunities. Once a series of concepts exists, the story is chosen and the sketch phase can begin. The Sketch and Review phase incorporates rough design sketches and renderings to come to a final design solution. Deliver Once the design solution is refined, CAD files will be created to move into the development of the product. Prototypes can be built tested and refined from these files. Prototypes are used to push toward tangible evidence at every stage of the innovation journey. Prototypes are increasingly valuable as we tackle more abstract design concepts. Next we begin discussing fabrication and implementation of the final production. Here it is important to collaborate with the right teams for fabrication, technology, manufacturing or production Amon Tobin Project One of my most recent projects, is a collaboration between Amon Tobin, Vita Motus, V-squared, Leviathon and Alex Lazarus and it would be the first venture where VitaMotus would deliver a stage for solely one Musician, tailored specifically for Amon Tobin. Vita Motus was tasked with coming up with an innovative idea for Amon Tobin to bring on tour with his Isam album. As the Production Designer for the stage, I wanted to come up with something no one had seen before. To deliver innovation and Develop and Design a mind blowing stage concept to launch his ISAM album. After listening to his blend of organic and technical music from the ISAM album, something amazing happened. I saw each song as a digital sculpture, so carefully crafted, and organized. The layers are so distinct and composed… it resonated visually and I wanted to get into the roots of the tracks. I really wanted to visualize the foundation, which gave me an idea.. I thought about visually making a sculpture that would be the equivalent of the optical digital root. The pixel. I found that using a 16 in by 16 in cube, and repeating them through this sculpture, I created a piece that was very 2 Bit, the old school digital format, like we all remember Atari graphics, the 2 bit graphics… and I ran with it. I Used the Pixel as my digital root and created a 2-Bit / pixel sculpture that could come alive when 3D mapped to create an illusionary effect of viewing 3 dimensional media with in real 3 dimensional space. The pixel concept is the perfect root as it creates a 3d visual grid which is used as a basis for graphics design elements and media layout. Pushing the sculptural limitations for media mapping. Traditionally in 3D mapping, media teams will map media on found object like buildings or cars and work the surface into the media software after the product is built. However, We have worked differently and designed the sculpture first in the industrial design 3d software Autodesk Alias Studio Tools primarily with mapping in mind. Designing the sculpture in 3d gave us the opportunity to send the sculpture's 3d file directly to VSL and Leviathan even before the project was in Physical form, so that they could draw up media directly to the sculpture surfaces. Extreme attention went into the placement of each piece to create a surreal 3 dimensional space. The negative space and elements that appear to defy gravity and cantilever are very important. Especially for the projection. They are placed purposefully around the cube that AMons is inside creating the deep depth and allowing for an architectural yet blank 3 dimensional foundation. This canvas has opportunities that other sculptures may not provide for the technology. The 3 dimensional grid allows you to almost see inside the structure and you get the illusion of holographic effects. Here we were not bound by one type of story, this blank canvas or foundation structure¬¬ allowed for content that could range from lanterns to spaceships, asteroids and even great cinematic content. There was a story to be told on this canvas, and there was a journey to produce, and Vsquared, Levaiathan and Amon scripted that content. There were some challenges that we came across when developing what would be the most effective material for the project. This is a touring stage for AMon Tobin, there were many issues to solve for a stage of this kind.. It would need to ship and move from gig to gig smoothly, which I found out really meant, come down and pack up in 2 hours to get to the next show, the next day, in another country. It meant it had to fit in one freight truck, it meant we had to be able to get it through the door… (which in some venues is not possible)… BUT really the most important issue to solve and the one element that would really define how we made the structure. Is the sculptures reaction to the ever so moving bass of Amon Tobin Isam Album. The bass vibration alone is enough to move objects, and when the structure is set and found by the mapping software, it can not move. Therefore, It is a 2.5-ton structure made of wood and steel, where I have broken the structure into pieces. Each piece is packed in the largest shipping crates most stage hands have ever seen. It is really priceless when I see the faces as the back of the freight truck rolls open and the crates are revealed… its totally illogical.. but absolutely necessary. Basically I created this stage to go together like fun game of tetris, and to come apart like tetris, and to fit ever so tightly into these crates, if one piece goes back in wrong, it will not fit. To put it all together we require a small army of 5 or 6 people, 3 or 4 to work up on the stage, and 2 or 3 down on the floor to set up the projectors. The surface is created so smoothly and the edges are fabricated so perfectly so that the HD projection appears incredibly crisp.. and at times you forget there is a structure under it at all. The video appears in dimension.. The pixels are situated so two sides of each box face the audiences at 45 degrees allowing the images hit both sides for a richer 3-D effect yet also allowing for the whole show to be run off of one single projector. … We had to use a single projector because there'd be no time for mixing and blending 2 projectors together on such tight schedules. The video content and technology aspect is directed by Vello Virkaus, from Vsquared. They decided to use TouchDesigner, Derivative's visual programming environment, as their "creative tool" for this engineering intensive project. It provides high quality realtime 3D and UI development capabilities. The structure was so complex to map that V-squared teamed up with Levaithan and adapted their own application, made within TouchDesigner, and does the projection mapping, video playback, Kinect response, realtime effects and more. Pretty much everything was built from scratch, making their own proprietary engineering accomplishments for this show, pushing themselves … and proving. TouchSmart was used to design and build a Show Previewing System, a Show Sequencing System, the Show Rendering Unit and Alignment System. They built the Alignment System to run on the interface on the iPad. You line up the crosshairs and it writes out a text file and you're done with it. When the Show Sequencing System is launched it reads the text file and are calibrated and ready to run the footage. The teams were working off the digital model I provided while the cube structure was being built by Stefano Novelli. And .. they assumed once it was realized, adjustments might have to be made to their virtual model. However.. it turned out, once the stage was built, and the calibration tool projected onto the 2bit set for the first time at the rehearsal stage, that everything was built perfectly and matched up, thank you Stefano. The piece is very precise… The projectors were literally dropped down off of the forklift and onto the truss stands, plugged in, powered on and calibrated in less than 30 minutes - the first time… A real achievement for the whole team. Basically, the media crews used Maya and Cinema 4D to produced 14 songs There was a story to be told, spaceship, asteroids, alien planet and other things, they did storyboards, did extensive pre-production. A fun gem built into the interconnected pixels, is the one central stack that acts as Amon's cube, a semi-transparent control room (high tech smart glass) where he plays his laptop and frosts and clears the glass lending a sense of spontaneity. Amon can control the glass from inside his chamber… interacting with the music organically. One of the ways Amon appears during the show is projected on the entire set as a Kinect point cloud as an avatar. Amon has a Kinect camera in his booth with a gesture interface. What the audience sees is a custom rendering of the point cloud using the Kinect image. One thing I have been personally drawn to within the last 5 years is creating a showcase for musicians. Making an environment that would extend the performance and involve the audience while at the same time broadening their exposure by enticing concert goers… "the wow what is that effect"… This Amon opportunity however…turned that interest around. Working together with Amon was just the opposite, instead his music undoubtedly provides a place for us to showcase our art. He is a visionary with amazing depth and texture… and is not afraid to try new things. Everyone's always looking for the next big thing. It is a challenge to always try and evolve something "different", and design (THINGs) that have never been seen before, looking for that powerful WOW factor… this is a very competitive market. This new trend of blending music, art, and technology is not just a show.. its an experience, and not only are you watching and hearing people perform, you are watching art, design, technology, innovation and most importantly you are witnessing community.