ADE 2025 + Laurent Garnier
If there’s one phase of a project I love most, it’s the beginning. That initial spark, when you ask: What’s the story we want to tell? And how do we tell it?
Once that’s in place, the craft takes over. The design, the visuals, the sound, the execution that makes it sing. But without that first hook, there’s no story to carry.
Two projects I’ve been lucky enough to help shape recently are perfect examples of this.
For Lof'i’s Amsterdam Dance Event 2025, I had the chance to act as a kind of artistic creative director for Lofi Amsterdam. Together with Anna Petrova (aka Fourthreetwone) and strategist Iris Zebli, we built a world around the spirit of ADE itself: not just a festival, but a marathon, a journey. Fatigue, perseverance, triumph. The phrase we landed on: Gear up. The only way is through.
Our challenge was to unify a week’s worth of events, each with its own identity, into one 30-second campaign that captured the emotional arc of the experience. The result was a visually rich, conceptually strong launch video, blending analog textures, digital elements, and 3D worlds into a single story. A glimpse of the process, distilled into seconds. But resonant enough to carry the weight of a week..
Around the same time, another dream project came my way: a promotional video for none other than Laurent Garnier. I’ve been a fan for years, so being creatively responsible for telling his story was an honor. The concept sparked while watching the French documentary Volcano of Love. Its opening sequence — archive footage colliding with music and erupting into a bold title — stuck with me. It felt like the perfect metaphor: the French touch meeting the Dutch underground. Again, Anna created visual magic, and together we shaped something I’m deeply proud of.
Both of these projects reminded me of the power of starting from scratch. Finding the hook. Building the frame for others to fill with their brilliance. That’s where I thrive, I guess. in the moment when an idea catches, when the first domino falls.
Because in the end, that’s the beauty of creating together: you trust the process, you light the spark, and you watch it grow into something bigger than yourself.
