Our future is now

Behind the scenes at FFV, a team of talented professionals has been carefully curated over the past 20 years to create the dynamic design organism that FFV is today. Grown from side-line projects in the Berlin music scene of the 1990s, FFV was founded in 1999 by Leigh Sachwitz. Today Leigh still runs the creative side of flora&faunavisions while the studio continues to grow organically and has become a multitalented organism of limitless creative potential.

Drawn in from around the corner and across the globe, the FFV team is naturally and perpetually one step ahead of the trend, relying on the latest technology to realise diverse, international experiences and projects. Each studio member offers unique insights and inspiration, constantly refreshing the FFV organism as it evolves parallel to the Berlin art, tech and music scenes.

Leigh: I came to Berlin on the 1st of November 1993 on a one-way ticket, with one suitcase and a thousand pounds. I was looking for adventure and very quickly got involved in the underground techno and house music scene in East Berlin. There was a huge amount of space available so pretty soon, I was setting up temporary events in warehouse and factory spaces with a group of people I found really quickly. I started working with light, projections and super8 films because it was interesting to me and it was clear that there was potential for these kinds of artistic events. Soon people were asking me to design these kinds of events for them.

Leigh: The real transition to becoming an actual company came from an invitation for myself and a friend to create a three-day festival at the Volksbühne, which is a big theatre in the former East part of Berlin. I curated and designed the event, "Jugendmusikfestspiele" which involved numerous music/visual artists, and, out of this event, flora&faunavisions was born. I founded the company in August 1999.

Sebastian: I’ve been working with flora&faunavisions for 15 years and I have really enjoyed how every project takes on a different angle, that every project is a challenge that demands a specific team and a specific approach. I enjoy the challenge and also the necessity for new perspectives that come with every project.

Toni: For me, flora&faunavisions is a special second family, a unique collective, a bubble, or a huddle of people I appreciate and that I like and I look up to. flora&faunavisions gives me space and time to express my ideas and give them shape, to concentrate and focus on finding solutions and to be a part of a team.

Lukas: It’s about diversity, because what flora&faunavisions does is multilayered. At the same time, as Toni said, flora&faunavisions is a family and I’ve felt that way since I started here.

Sebastian: Technology has changed dramatically. I’m constantly trying to stay on top of technology. That’s also encouraged amongst us at flora&faunavisions. When I started, we made videos that we wouldn’t show anywhere or to anyone now. In our work, there are constantly demands for new things to be created. Very often we push technology to the extremes and that’s exciting, but also frustrating.

Lukas: During our last interview a few years ago, I talked about introducing more procedural tools like Houdini so that we can create more complex, interactive 3D experiences, and said I'd like to play around with real-time interactive gaming engines, like Unreal Engine, or Unity. And now we have! Many of our recent projects have made use of these super high-powered, innovative tools– Utopian Garden in particular was an incredibly fascinating challenge where we got to use and create so many incredible technologies! It's crazy to think how much the technology has advanced in just a few years– I always have fun time staying abreast of the latest developments and figuring out how to incorporate them into new projects.

Toni: Oh yes! One of the first projects that really impressed me was for Audemars Piquet in Kraftwerk. I learnt a lot at that time because I was still a junior. It was truly impressive to see the video-mapping live! More recently I worked on the design of the GQ award again for the 4th time. As part of the project scope, I created the key visuals and it was a crazy experience to enter the Berlin Opera and to see the pattern I had designed all over. That was great.

Lukas: Travelling for work and being on location means that I can make changes on-site, it’s super nice. I have to plan it well though since I have 2 dogs at home.

Sebastian: It has never happened that at the moment when something had to be done, it hasn’t. It’s part of the job to check that everything works as it should and it’s always thrilling to see the finished work.

Milena: I'm really stoked to be part of this super creative team. It’s a place of sharing ideas, knowledge and creativity. The team is open minded and it’s an honour to be part of a crew that is pushing the limits within creativity and technology further with every new project. Designing for projects at flora&faunavisions is a feast - it’s a place to create visuals on a high aesthetical level. I’m super grateful to have arrived here at the flora&faunavisions family.

Natalya: What I like most about flora&faunavisions is that everyone loves to be here and to work on awesome projects in a team with a positive attitude. I like seeing how everyone is motivated and ambitious. It’s a place to find inspiration and to be both demanded and promoted. Everyone here is a unique part of an organism.

Thomas: For the first stage, planning is super important. If you have a good plan, everything down the line becomes easier. As a producer it’s also my job to make sure that everyone is able to work effectively within the framework of a project, so workflows are something I think about a lot. We often have freelancers come in to perform specialized tasks on our projects, so finding the right people is absolutely essential. We’re lucky to have a great network of freelancers we work with regularly– our projects wouldn’t be the same without them.

Ben: It's essential to get the right people in the right time together into the room and have them talk to each other. Of course there is always a financial side of things, but if you consider the quality of design, the ideas and also the passion that everyone shares with the group, projects are really about creating harmony and a workaround where people can let go and feel free to dream and inspire each other throughout the process. I strongly believe that there is no right or no wrong when it comes to how to get a project done. There is just a certain clarity that comes into messaging and visual communication. The stronger the flow and the closer the team gets in the development of ideas, the further you get with the level of detail within the output.

Sixtine: What I like the most about my job is being this glue that brings and holds all the project resources together. When it comes to people, I think it's super important to identify the right talents for a project and how best their skills will support in building the client's vision. Working on complex pipelines and having to run in parallel the multitude of services that are required within a project means bringing people from diverse backgrounds and expertise on board and eventually, building a really positive environment where they will feel good collaborating and sharing ideas to insure consistency and efficiency within their own tasks, but also for the everyone on the project overall.

I believe the project's outcome matters as much as the journey to get there, so building a strong strategy, solid schedule and budget, keeping things tightly organised and on scope, having open communication and positive energy within a team that takes responsibility, and a great collaborative relationship with the client, are all aspects that when combined really make a difference for a project's success.

Paul: Every project is different, some develop a flow on their own and everything seems to fall into place easily– you remove an obstacle here and there and set the long term goals. In some you have to pull more strings and be a mediator between all the departments. Encouraging collaboration and creating a positive team environment is key, if there is motivation- everyone is in on problem solving.
In most projects you encounter unexpected changes no matter how well you plan, so remaining flexible and using everyone’s fortes will in the end lead to a successful project delivery.

Ben: A lot of production work is empathy-based. It's about seeing where people's talents lie and really pushing the team members in the right direction. Sometimes this just works great, sometimes you need to expend more effort to make everyone feel comfortable.
It is very interesting to me because everyone thinks, dreams and works differently. But when it comes to working closely, it's important to create a common ground where everyone has a full understanding of what the project needs and how it can learn to fly even within their specific tasks.

The essence of my work is really to make that happen and to oversee when is the right time to bring certain steps in that we have to solve or answer as a team. It can never for me be just a management approach – the creativeness in my process is a very strong part of who I am as a producer or lead.

Sixtine: Seeing a project coming to life and the public reacting to it with strong pure positive emotion is really gratifying.
On a personal level, it's usually filled with emotion: I feel really proud and grateful to meet and work with the hyper-talented people I get to learn from everyday, on experiences that are meaningful and accessible, with clients who value creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.
Professionally speaking, it's always a sense of growth: success is often the result of a lot of dedication, risk-taking and problem-solving, so being able to reflect on a successful project and all the learnings that come with it also mean that we can approach the next ones with new views and refined strategies for better processes and outcomes overall.

Thomas: When you’ve been with a project from start to finish, seeing it completed is a really special feeling because you know exactly what it took to bring the project into the world. It’s an incredible feeling to look back at all the obstacles the team overcame and think, ‘we did it!’ It’s also always great to celebrate with the team after a project is completed, because it’s such a privilege to work with an amazingly talented group of individuals– I’m always grateful for the support I receive from my team members.

Paul: When a project really works out, it brings a mix of emotions: satisfaction, excitement, validation– but also relief when a complex project worked out and everyone involved is happy with the outcome. Of course a happy client is important, but happy and proud team members will hopefully carry that momentum over to other challenges!

Ben: It is really like when a bird leaves the nest for the first time. For me the most important moment is when everyone just jumps in and really embeds themself in the project. This is when we set aside logistical concerns like budget and timing limitations– and everything just comes together into one big picture. The more clearly you've illustrated those small logistical steps at the beginning of the project, the better everything comes together in the final stages. If that happens and everyone lets go it is really a relief but also such an energetic moment at the same time. It creates excitment around the process and you feel this incredible motivation to keep going until the very last moment.
Then when you get onsite and really see the full scale of a show, it just gives me so much more energy. Being onsite and making the last adjustments so that the piece comes together perfectly is really something that brings great joy for me. Joy in general is the essence of my work. It can be exhausting and sometimes even tedious to get all the tiny steps done, but if overall everyone has fun and truly loves putting their whole hearts into the work – for me this is great pleasure and the moment the team really takes off.

Celeste: My role can be described as a bit of a “tool master”. With the scale of the projects that the CPs work on, it’s immensely important for them to save as much time as possible on repetitive tasks, so they can devote that time to grander and more creative things. “Efficiency” can be a bit of an overused term, but to me it means gifting valuable time to people, and in this studio, time really is gold. I work in finding solutions to every single time consuming thing; from how to communicate with the team as a whole, to pushing administrative tasks forward without them being a roadblock.

There’s nothing better than seeing a project come to fruition! No matter what your role in it was, in the end we’re here to build unforgettable experiences for people around the world, and seeing that accomplished, and the joy in every visitor’s face, is a wonderful satisfactory feeling.

Leigh: The team at flora&faunavisions is an ongoing project and one that we collectively undertake with as much love, care and dedication as every one of our other projects. Together, we bring out the best in each of us to produce memorable experiences to the best of our combined abilities. I would say the flora&faunavisions team is our most successful project to date.