Craft and fantasy: how Nina Gantz built an animated world for Loewe

Initially, she thought she would follow in her mother’s footsteps and become an actress. However, she quickly realized that being on stage or in front of the camera wasn’t her path. Instead, she discovered a love of storytelling from behind the lens.

Animation became the perfect blend of her interests- drawing, storytelling, and photography. She was captivated by the way animation allowed her to create entire worlds of her own, all from the comfort of her own bedroom.

Over the years, she honed her craft, developing a fondness for stop-motion animation. This led her to the National Film and Television School in England, where she graduated in 2015 with ‘Edmond’, a stop-motion puppet film that won Best Short Animation at the Sundance Film Festival and a BAFTA Award.

“That really set up how I saw my kind of storytelling,” she explains. “And how I wanted to make films, that pushed me forward.”

After the success of her first film, Gantz joined the production studio Blinkink as a director, where she worked on various projects, including ad campaigns. One notable project was a Christmas campaign for the luxury Spanish fashion house Loewe.

“They said, ‘We want to make a Christmas commercial, but it shouldn't be Christmas-y’, and I loved that,” Gantz recalls. “They sent me the clothing collection and it was all inspired by arts and crafts practitioner William De Morgan. I didn't know much about him, but then when I found out I saw his work everywhere, it's quite amazing.”

A potter, tile designer, and novelist, De Morgan is known for his bold, decorative, style. Gantz says she was particularly drawn to the characters in his work as they weren’t “too cute” but still quite fairytale-like. She took inspiration from his drawings and ceramics and began translating them into animation for the fashion brand’s festive film.

“I wanted to make it all out of textiles, which was something new for me, and I think it's quite unusual,” adds Gantz.

“They [Loewe} have been so nice to work with because they appreciate you as a maker, as an artist. It's very different from working on other commercials because they understand that you have a voice, and, of course, they're selling their collection, but they understand that it's about a feeling that you want to get across.”

The appeal of Loewe for Gantz is that the house is so big on craft, that it even extends to the music. For ‘An Otter’s Tale,’ they commissioned a bespoke soundtrack that was recorded with a 250-person choir in Brighton.

With that level of craft can come challenges. “I make short films, and already you have to make something work in 10 minutes and then doing it for 20 seconds, I find that a real challenge,” she continues. “It's like a puzzle, I find it quite exciting when it works.”

Another project with Loewe followed, this time to celebrate China’s Qixi Festival, which is all about love and healing. The brand sent over the brief to Gantz and she quickly found inspiration.

“They had these amazing old Chinese kid's TV, cut-out animations that I'd never seen before,” she says. “It opened my eyes and I just love that, you know, it can work both ways, in that sense.”

It felt like the perfect choice because when the filmmaker looked at the bag that was going to be showcased at the end, it had an almost origami-like sensibility to it. Gantz felt it was a perfect match, and she loved how everything came together so seamlessly.

Taking on a completely different style, work with Whiskas and ad agency AMV BBDO followed in 2021 called ‘Purr More’ that featured a loveable rogue of a cat. It has all the gorgeous hallmarks of Gantz’s craft-led animation work – most of which gets ripped apart by feline claws.

It was essentially a live-action shoot with elements of CGI. Working with the cat was tricky. The agency’s art department, led by Gordon Allen, was crucial in bringing the vision to life. As a talented production designer, he created sets that allowed the cats to truly interact with their environment, which was important to avoid a too-composited feel.

Working with cats can be difficult, as they tend to go wherever they want, and as the saying goes, “never work with animals or children.” However, the goal was to make the cats feel like they were genuinely enjoying the space, with none of the discomfort that might be evident when a cat is unhappy.

“I love cats so much and I had it in my head that I would be laying there with them and cuddling them in between the shoot. But none of that was happening. They were like little divas,” laughs Gantz. “They had to all be in a little cage in between, not being distracted because they would just look at anything that was moving. The actual reality was that I had to direct them from behind the poly board.”

What the director loves most is working with talented people but also the “problem solving” of animation.

For Gantz, making the imagined become real is her driving force. She says, “I just love the making and the craft, that goes into it. But also, that you can create this thing you have in your head, your own world and that you can control every single thing that is moving in that world. I think there's something so magical about it.”