Raising the bar with Virginia
Advertising / Editorial.
Art Director / Concept, Set Design & Props, Styling : Lauri King.
Photography / Food Styling / Retouching : Mark Wildsmith.
© 2024 Lauri King & Mark Wildsmith. All rights reserved.
“These are truly stun-NING!” Felicity Avenell, Press and Marketing Officer, Charleston Trust
Virginia and Leonard Woolf were known to be fans of Fortnum & Mason. Our scene imagines them at the dining table of Virginia’s sister Vanessa’s home and studio, Charleston.
“Charleston was a gathering point for some of the 20th century’s most radical artists, writers and thinkers known collectively as the Bloomsbury group. It is where they came together to imagine society differently, and has always been a place where art and experimental thinking are at the centre of everyday life.” [charleston.org.uk/about-us].
Coined by Dorothy Parker, the Bloomsbury Group ‘lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles’.
The abstract backdrop represents the decor of Charleston, especially the wallpaper and painted table in the dining room, and features squares. The dining scene is a modern-day interpretation of the unconventional context they created, and includes Fortnum’s circular Marc de Champagne truffles, a library of chocolate bars, and a resplendent hand-raised Venison & Red Onion Pie direct from Piccadilly. A triangular slice sits on a glazed ceramic stoneware saucer created for modern-day Charleston, inspired by the playful and dynamic patterns, colours and motifs found at the house.
The pie is so perfect, it almost looks edited in, but this is a real shoot with no artifice - and all food items were consumed responsibly afterwards!
We see flashes of Fortnum’s Eau de Nil, painterly brush strokes on packaging, Fabiano’s 1910 art piece Proverbe en image: L’union fait la force (female lovers attempting to hold a door closed against a drunk gentleman), and a part-used bottle of Woolf’s favourite ink, Waterman Tender Purple (Violet). The scene is at once considered and messy; showing a glimpse of the unconventional - a trademark of the lifestyle.
As they dared to flout convention, so does our advertising piece, deliberately ignoring staging and set design conventions; highlighting the beauty in food, art and relationships, and raising the bar in choosing the highest quality of life.
Long Love #Fortnums
Supporting Set Design / Props :
Glass Watering Can
Waterman Encre Violet Tendresse / Tender Purple Ink 50ml
Custom-designed backdrop
Part of a set, also including “Elizabeth’s local grocer”, both of which have been shot in a consciously atmospheric style and mood to represent underlying issues in both sets of relationships and contexts. There is a violet thread running through the scenes; Virginia’s ink and Elizabeth’s eyes. Where the Woolf piece resembles a still life painting, the Taylor piece resembles a film set.
