All good things…

There have been a few occasions recently where someone asked me how things were going at Arcade, to which I had to explain that the company was shut down over 18 months ago. Realising that I had not publicly announced this, I thought it best to do so. So here we are.

Arcade was an interdisciplinary design studio set up by myself, Keiichi Matsuda and William Coleman at the start of 2013. We worked on a series of successful projects together before disbanding mid 2014. We still collaborate and discuss projects from time to time but are now all operating separately.

In terms of my current situation, I’m back to working as a self employed visual artist / designer / coder working on a range of commercial and personal projects. I’m mainly programming abstract animation and gesture based interaction, often combining the two to make immersive, creative experiences that connect people with their environments.

Arcade – New design studio

I’m excited to announce that I have set up an interdisciplinary design studio called Arcade with Keiichi Matsuda and Will Coleman (the guys I worked on Cell with). We are mostly working on interactive installations, immersive environments, short films and mobile apps at the moment, always with a view to engage, delight, question and combine virtual and physical spaces. Check out our showreel below and our temporary web page – http://arcade.cx.

We’re looking for new projects, collaborations, freelancers, interns (programmers and designers) and opportunities. Please get in touch if you are interested in any of the above.

We’ve already published our first project. The Always on Telephone Club is an idea about the future of mobile communication wrapped up as a short creative coding learning experiment. It was commissioned by Nokia for their AlphaLabs initiative. Here’s the documentation.

Feel free to pop by the studio for a cup of tea if you’re around. We’re currently based in Shoreditch.

Digital gun for hire

It was a tough decision, but after almost 4 years at Skive, I’ve decided to become fully self employed. One of the main reasons for this move is to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that have started to come my way. These include speaking at and helping to organise events, getting involved in artistic collaborations and working on experiential projects at other agencies and organisations. In addition to this it will give me more time to dedicate to R&D which will hopefully lead to some really compelling applications and artwork.

Like I mentioned above, it’s been a tough decision. Skive is an excellent agency that has been very good to me over the years. I’ve learned a huge amount in my time there and have made some great friends. I simply believe it’s now time to pursue my own professional endeavours and follow my calling in the world of digital.

I’ll be available from the start of the new year. if you’d like to employ my services, please feel free to contact me.