Who We Are...
Leonora Oppenheim
Founding Director of Elio Studio
Leonora Oppenheim is a design storyteller. Which is a neat way of saying she uses word, image and form to portray local cultural, environmental and community stories to wider audiences.
In short, she's passionate about provoking discussion and debate through creativity.
From working on plans for a chocolate factory with cacao farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon to reporting on biogas toilets from the mountains of northern Ethiopia, Leonora has many a tale to tell of her adventurous and inspiring encounters with creative minds around the world.
As director of Elio Studio, Leonora crafts her narratives in collaboration with architects, designers, curators and scientists. Together their creative projects promote engaging conversations around social and environmental issues in public spaces.
Leonora also regularly puts finger to key to tell epic tales of design derring and sustainability do for TreeHugger.com and other online and print publications.
Leonora has worked on:
Design installations for: Thomas Heatherwick (UK), Marcel Wanders (NL), Atelier Van Lieshout (NL), Niall O'Flynn (Spain), Castel Veciana (Spain).
Consultancy projects for: Futerra (UK), Ben Weaver Associates (UK), Jane Withers (UK), Lightning Fast (UK), Tabeisa (UK/Africa), Nick Hancock Design Studio (UK), D-Squared Design (UK), Architecture for Humanity (US), The Kallari Association (Ecuador)
Online + Print Publications: TreeHugger.com, PlanetGreen.com, CoolHunting.com, DeTnk.com, The Ecologist, House + Garden, Resource Magazine
Leonora has lived and worked variously in Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Barcelona, New York and Quito. These days she's based in London, but continues to explore both locally and globally.
Leonora relishes any opportunity to step away from her keyboard and welcomes invitations to share her design adventures in person. She has presented at various high profile events including, Birmingham City University's Big Debate (Sept 2008) , Grand Designs Live (Oct 2008), Pecha Kucha Barcelona (Nov 2008), the HEC Social Business Conference Paris (May 2009), and Cineforum - The Road to Ecotopia (Dec 2009)
Associates:
Anna Maria Orru
Sustainable Design Architect + Environmental Researcher
Anna Maria Orru has over nine years experience working as an architect both in the UK and abroad. Between 2006 and 2008 she worked with Grimshaw on a range of projects including the Bournemouth Winter Gardens Arts Centre, the UCL Cancer Research Institute, the LSE School of Management, and the Bioreactor Plant for the Quinn Glass Facility.
Prior to Grimshaw she gained valuable site experience working on the Angel Town Regeneration Scheme which won the Building for Life - the Gold Standard Award in 2006 with Anne Thorne Architects Partnership. She has also had the opportunity to work beside Shigeru Ban on the Centre Pompidou Metz.
She is a passionate advocate of environmentally sustainable design and has carried out research in this subject area throughout her career. She worked with Ove Arup & Partner’s ‘Foresight and Innovation Team’, which resulted in her research being published in ‘ARUP: Drivers of Change 2006’ (GG). While at Grimshaw, she was involved in setting up and managing the Green R&D group that sourced new ideas and technologies that could influence sustainable architecture.
Anna Maria and Leonora are currently collaborating on an innovative packaging project which aims to readdress the value of waste.
Nick Hancock
Director of Nick Hancock Design Studio
Born and trained in Australia, Nick came to the UK in 1997 having already worked for some of Australia's top practices. Once in the UK, he worked on a variety of projects developing his specialisms in complex geometry and lightweight steel structures, before joining Richard Rogers Partnership from 1999- 2004 where he worked on landmark buildings in the UK and around the world, becoming a senior designer and working on numerous award-winning schemes.
Nick left RRP in 2004 in order to go freelance and moved to Barcelona, Spain, but continued to work closely with the practice, consulting for RRP and later with RSHP on projects including the Las Arenas bullring renovation in Barcelona, the World Trade Center in New York, and a high-end private residence in Singapore.
Demand for Nick's services has been so great that in January 2008 he moved back to London and launched Nick Hancock Design Studio, a small architectural practice based in Primrose Hill, enabling him to provide high-quality design solutions to a wider range of clients, both in the UK and internationally.
In August 2008 Nick invited Leonora to work on the Flying Bridge proposal to advise on the environmental aspects of the project.
Tailormade Productions
Film, Video + Theatre
Tailormade Productions aims to create compelling productions across film, video and theatre, using collaborative and imaginative storytelling techniques.
Tailormade Productions is made up of Brek Taylor, Clare Tinsley and Elizabeth Mitchell and together they work as a writing/producing/directing team.
Productions include the live action and theatre video show 'Recruitment Stars', the Film London sponsored short film 'Dead Bird', the interactive vidcast 'Alex Leap', and 'Ruth's Tooth', a short film using a combination of live action, puppetry and prosthetics. Currently, alongside developing the animated short 'The Shipping Forecast' and the collaborative theatre project ‘Set-Up’, the team are about to go into production on their first feature film 'The Sea Change'.
