THE HOUSE OF MOVING GESTURES

The House of Moving Gestures is an physical object-based retail subsidiary from IMG. The name suggests a sedentary nature in the form of ‘House’; ­— at its core the word means ‘to provide space for, accommodate’ therefore a sign of approach based on stillness, occurences of being ever-present, forever providing, compounding & nurturing. Coupled to create a proper noun; ‘Moving Gestures’ are the objects & entities the subsidiary wishes to capture. The portrayal of gestures, sillhouettes, glances; minute details of the infinite permutations of life’s most mundane & intricate details. 

Creating the name ‘The House of Moving Gestures’ which is a wordplay & inspired by Studio Ghibli’s film ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’; in which the house was an essential visual character of the film; a house that sheltered a myriad of objects and is composed of salvaged parts of different spaces. A reflection of the team’s diverse design backgrounds & skillsets.

THE YEAR OF THE TIGER

For the pilot project of the retail; we took the opportunity in honoring the Lunar New Year of 2022. We set out to create a campaign with storytelling that would allow us to create products (angpaos) identical to the culture celebration of the Chinese Calendar. Inspired by the films of Edward Yang & the themes of reconnection; we crafted a story that could serve as the narrative campaign & utilizing interactive site activations to advertise said products. 

Synopsis: Approaching the Lunar New Year of 2022; Jane, a twenty-something jobseeking college graduate searches her long-lost old online childhood friend she met twelve years ago. Robin, her friend now all grown up — spends his days writing UFO & government conspiracies for a living.

The visual concepts of the red envelopes derives from the fictional, informal world found in this story. The offshoot worldbuilding elements in the story. Jane & Robin are of Chinese descent; they still live in the haze of their heritage; even though their connection to their culture are fading off as sprawling modernity becomes more of the norm. 

The visuals will celebrate the Lunar New Year: The Year of the Tiger in an informal fashion; where the modern Chinese culture are often depicted in street-style, sleazy and kitschy advertising & graphic design. Detaching itself from the obvious neon-light induced stereotypical portrayals or the orientalist, ethnic classical imageries of Chinese culture. The visuals opted for something more tangible; printed; portraying the visual world that Jane has to go through inside the Jakarta-based urban world to find Robin.

There are also homages to Hong Kong & Taiwan cinema & music; from the 1990s. Mixed with references with the Lunar New Year & its prophecies & mythology; creating another fictional reality where the world of Jane & Robin.

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