Sonia Rentsch is without question one of my favourite stylists, in fact I would go as far as to say she is one of my favourite artists period. Based in Melbourne Sonia has been developing her unique and effortless style since 2002. Describing herself as an Art Director and Still Life Artist one should not be fooled by the subtlety of her work, every image demonstrates an incredible amount of constrained imagination. Because whilst a wild imagination can be a wonderful thing, the discipline of constraint partnered with uncontrived imagination can produce the most stunning, lucid work. And this for me is the very foundation of Sonia Rentchs work.

A series of work that I believe best demonstrates Sonias work is the series Harmless, shot by Albert Comper for January Biannual Magazine (images below). Constructing guns, grenades and bullets using organic objects, the images Sonia creates are clean and beautiful. And beyond the great deal of consideration for colour, shapes and dead space the convincing representation of what she is reproducing gives the images dimension and wit.

Interviews with Sonia show her to be modest and pragmatic in her approach. Asked what advice she would give someone hoping to do similar work Sonia responded ‘If you want to do something, start doing it. It sounds ridiculous, but if you want to create something, then create it.’ This is a sentiment I very much agree with. We live in a time where creativity can be exercised with great ease and anyone interested should try first and think later (as backwards as that may seem)

Gemma is a London based set designer who in the words of her agents East Photographic creates playfully sophisticated work that evokes narrative through colour, shape and form. Gemma graduated from Kingston University with a degree in Graphic Design and after learning her trade assisting Rachel Thomas setup her own studio in Dalston where she has since completed commissions for the likes of Elle, Wonderland and Nike.

Despite doing little to no work within food photography I find set designer Gemma Tickles work to be very inspiring. Her sets are extraordinarily simple and demonstrate a confidence in minimalism that I have great envy for.

Known for her playful and vivid props Gemma sites that a significant source of inspiration is pop culture, stating in an interview with Crack Magazine

‘We probably overuse the word ‘pop’ but I think it’s really important to what I do. I’ve always been interested in glossy/surface sheen, guys like Jeff Koons especially. We both use a pop colour palette in our work, which I think works nicely with a minimalism and aesthetic austerity.’

It this aesthetic austerity that gives her work such sophistication. Shot by Thomas Brown, Gemma Tickle designed 26 sets for a District MTV Advent Calendar. Each image had a very distinct Tickle style and a unique  vivid colour yet each one poured emphasis onto its given subject.