New World: Take part in free virtual sessions exploring the future of creativity

New World: Creating for Tomorrow is a programme of free, hands-on virtual sessions hosted by Today at Apple and It’s Nice That from 1 – 29 March. Building on our New World partnership in 2021, we’ll be hosting a series of Virtual Studio sessions with artists and designers who use creativity to present their ideals for the future.

Creativity is often used as a tool to propose a possible future. From messages of change visualised via graphic design to hopeful narratives of utopia portrayed in photography, creatives make use of their crafts and unique perspectives to raise all-important questions about society, showcasing how their processes – both imaginative and technological – might be the answer, too.

We’ll be focusing on this powerful quality of creativity within New World: Creating for Tomorrow. Following our 2021 New World collaboration with Today at Apple, in which we explored how learning new creative skills could help rebuild a better world, we’re again partnering to host a series of virtual hands-on studio sessions throughout March. While last year’s programme brought creatives together from around the world during a period of lockdown isolation to connect via creativity, this year we want to investigate how creativity can question where we want to head next – to help us imagine a better tomorrow.

To explore this sentiment, we’ve invited creatives to discuss how they use their respective mediums to visualise ideals for the future. United by their ability to drive the industry forward, our line-up features artists, designers and photographers, who envisage a world they hope to see, from illustrations led by inclusivity to type designed with its very own personality. Others use their creativity to craft worlds we can escape into, whether that’s through abstract still-lifes or photographic trickery, as well as those who are rethinking the capabilities of digital programmes in a creative context.

Co-hosted by It’s Nice That and Today at Apple, these live sessions will begin with a discussion around how our creatives embody this sentiment through their practices and their work. They will then share with our audience a teachable moment from their practice, encouraging you to take forward their examples of Creating for Tomorrow into your own future work.

Experiment with playful portraits with Moniker

NB: This event has now happened. Learn about the rest of the sessions and sign up here.

Our first session will be led by Amsterdam-based Moniker, an interactive design studio that pushes the collaborative boundaries of technology. Founded by Luna Maurer and Roel Wouters, the studio is renowned for its ability to shape digital practises with individuality. Inspired by “the way technology affects human behaviour, but equally its effect on our global community,” as co-founder Luna describes, a specific aim of the studio is to ensure “the unique characteristics that make us human get a central place in our technologised society”. Moniker’s session will encourage attendees to explore this, sharing their process of how to create a playful portrait using unconventional desktop tools.

Make otherworldly photographs with Cécilia Poupon

NB: This event has now happened. Learn about the rest of the sessions and sign up here.

Equally capable of pushing experimentation to its creative maximum is our second session creative, Cécilia Poupon. Based in Paris, Cécilia is a still-life photographer with a focus on creating hyperreal visuals, all from household objects. Walking us through how she achieves such otherworldly results, the photographer will share how to create your own futuristic still-life compositions.

Draw a powerful portrait to honour your heritage with Nourie Flayhan

NB: This event has now happened. Learn about the rest of the sessions and sign up here.

Next up, we’ll be joined by illustrator Nourie Flayhan to explore how she imbues heritage, culture and community in her work. Set to be a celebration of culture via illustration, Nourie will share how she tells stories of heritage in teaching attendees how to draw a portrait using a photographic reference. Born in the US but growing up between Kuwait and Lebanon, reclaiming narratives is the focus of her practice she’s keen to share. “There’s a lot of distortion happening and controlled narratives, and speaking from a personal, first-hand experience, growing up I didn’t feel represented in art or media,” says Nourie. “So I made a promise to my younger self to be part of the change in order for us to feel represented. For our stories to be shared as they existed and not in order to fit a specific narrative. In turn, I hope to inspire others to do so, as a collective.”

Design type to express your creative future with Jacob Wise

NB: This event has now happened. Learn about the rest of the sessions and sign up here.

We’ll then explore the field of typography design with one of the most respected young graphic designers around, Jacob Wise. Dialling in from The Hague, where he is currently completing a type and media masters, the designer will focus on how to draw letterforms from scratch. Jacob will share how he considers rhythm, proportion and spacing, but also how to add flair by encouraging attendees to create their own type which expresses their creative future.

Discover the joy of composition and collage with Jazz Grant

NB: This event has now happened. Learn about the rest of the sessions and sign up here.

Similarly imagining a creative future is our following session guest, Jazz Grant. An artist of growing acclaim (the past year has seen her create a Dazed cover as well as work for Gucci), Jazz utilises hand-cut paper collage to explore themes of inclusivity and utopia. Contextualising collage in this way began for the artist when the medium “transpired to be an organic way of creative expression,” she tells us. “I like to explore and conjure environments and worlds that feel familiar yet altered, sometimes disturbing, sometimes hopeful.” With this in mind, Jazz will teach attendees how to conjure their very own environment with their imagery.

Create a Futuristic Face Filter with Leslie David

NB: This event has now happened. Learn about the rest of the sessions and sign up here.

Our penultimate Virtual Studio session will see Paris-based artist Leslie David join us for a foray into the world of augmented reality. Founding her eponymous studio in 2010, Leslie’s work as an artist and creative director spans a range of mediums, from branding, illustration and motion design to emerging technological tools such as AR. The latter will be the focus of Leslie’s Virtual Studio, which will include a discussion on her far reaching creative practice, before diving into an introductory session on AR. An artist who is always pushing the boundary of how a creative may utilise technological tools to present their ideals or personality, Leslie’s session will embody this sentiment in teaching attendees how to create their very own futuristic face filter using Procreate on iPad.

Give your photography new meaning with KangHee Kim

NB: This event has now happened. Learn about the rest of the sessions and sign up here.

To end our hands-on sessions we’ll head into the escapist practice of KangHee Kim. A New York-based artist originally from Korea, KangHee’s photographic collages have garnered a huge global following for her ability to transform everyday scenes into imaginary worlds. The artist will join us to discuss the very personal perspective from which her practice initially grew, before teaching attendees to manipulate two photographs to create their own escapist masterpiece.

To bookend these sessions between 1–29 March, New World: Creating for Tomorrow will also feature two panel discussions. The first will discuss the concept of utilising the creative practice to “Imagine the Future”. Launching our virtual series, It’s Nice That editor-in-chief Matt Alagiah will host a discussion with Jazz Grant, Nourie Flayhan and Studio Safar on how they use their artworks to create a more inclusive future. Our very final session will then consider technology’s relationship with creativity moving forward. Moniker will join us again, alongside last year’s New World speakers Studio Dumbar, for a conversation on the skills and digital processes that will shape tomorrow. As well as taking part in these hands-on sessions, a group of our creative collaborators have created a series of Studio Shorts as additional introductions to their practises. Echoing their live sessions, these short films offer quick, creative exercises to follow along with in your own time.

An expansive series of sessions, New World: Creating for Tomorrow aims to put forward creativity as a way to discuss and visualise new futures for all. Whether you’re interested in letterforms, digital design, photography, collage processes or even illustration, we hope you’ll join us to explore how ideals can be cooperatively created and championed.