Barnaby Steel, co-founder of Marshmallow Laser Feast, traces the path: early sparks, formative collaborators, and why science isn’t garnish but the spine of his work. We dig into the realities of making for others, institutions, brands, audiences, and what it takes to protect ideas without losing generosity. Barnaby shares how he balances research with rehearsal, when to say yes (and no), and the unglamorous craft behind keeping a studio curious, solvent, and kind. This is a conversation about process over myth: how to build a practice that listens, negotiates, and still lands a feeling that stays with people long after they leave the room.
Laura Frank spent her early career establishing herself as a top lighting programmer with projects spanning rock tours with David Bowie and Madonna, to Broadway shows like Spamalot and television events like the Concert for NY. As the media server market started to evolve, Laura made the shift to screen content and control.
After a decade of refining a media delivery workflow, she established herself as a Screens Producer leading a highly regarded Media Operations team for prominent events around the world. Her shows included the MTV Video Music Awards, The Game Awards, the Turner Upfront and the CMA Music Awards.
Currently Laura is focused on education, community development through Frame:Work and consulting for live events & virtual production.
Louis Oliver is a creative director, production designer, and lighting designer known for bold, music-driven spectacles that balance concept with rock-solid engineering. As founder of LO&CO, he works end-to-end across creative direction, scenic and lighting to deliver tourable systems and signature looks for artists and brands. His credits span CHVRCHES’ “Love Is Dead” era arena-scale collaborations like 30 Seconds to Mars’ 2024 world tour (with Flare’s Ben Cash), the recurring design collaboration for Shawn Mendes and many others. His ability to reframe artists in new visual languages through scalable set pieces and precise cue architecture, has made him, one of the most interesting designers out there. Recognized early as a Live Design “Young Designer to Watch” and later with a Knight of Illumination Award, Oliver has become a go-to partner when the brief calls for cinematic staging, agile workflows, and unforgettable light architecture.
Keri Elmsly is a curator-producer and creative executive known for delivering ambitious, tech-driven cultural experiences on the global stage. She most recently served as Executive Director of Programming at ACMI, Australia’s national museum of screen culture, where she directed exhibitions, film, public programs, collections, and residencies (2022–2025). Before ACMI, Keri joined Madison Square Garden Company to lead immersive development for Sphere in Las Vegas, and earlier was Chief Creative Officer at Second Story (Publicis Sapient), advancing interactive installations for museums and brands. A long-time advocate for artists working with emerging technologies—and a mentor at NEW INC—her portfolio spans public art, touring shows, and large-scale immersive projects that connect audiences to ideas with clarity and wonder.
Thomas Tait, an award-winning designer, founded and directs the eponymous label, Thomas Tait. With over a decade of experience, he has served as a consulting creative director, art director, and designer for more than 20 international brands.
Born in Montreal, Canada, Tait honed his creative skills through a three-year diploma at Collège LaSalle before attending London's Central St Martins College of Art & Design. At 21, he made history as the youngest graduate of the school's esteemed MA Fashion programme. In 2010, Tait launched his womenswear brand, debuting it in collaboration with the London Wilkinson Gallery. That same year, he won the Inaugural Dorchester Collection Prize, followed a year later by The British Fashion Council's Newgen sponsorship scheme.
His accolades continued with the inaugural LVMH Prize in 2014, The Design Museum’s Designer of the Year award, and a British Fashion Award in 2015. Thomas Tait's impressive roster of clients and collaborators includes Nike, Louis Vuitton, and Max Mara.
Gio Staiano is an Italian photographer whose work spans fashion, backstage and reportage. He moved to London in 1999, studied photography at LCC (UAL), and cut his teeth assisting on fashion, music, and still-life shoots in the UK and Denmark. Influenced by Guy Bourdin, Irving Penn, Annie Leibovitz, Nan Goldin, Peter Lindbergh, and Richard Avedon, he developed a clean, human-centered style that led to long collaborations with designers and houses such as Iris van Herpen, Vetements (from its 2014 debut onward), Lutz Huelle, Gucci, Hugo Boss, and Y/Project. Since 2011 he’s photographed fashion weeks worldwide while pursuing a seven-year personal reportage project using a discreet Fuji “pseudo-Leica.” His work appears in The New York Times, Vogue.com, i-D, Dazed, Elle, and The Guardian.
Ash Nehru stands as a pivotal figure in the evolution of live visuals and virtual production, a true creative technologist and toolmaker whose innovations have redefined the boundaries of these fields. His journey began while studying Computer Science at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Following his academic pursuits, Ash ventured into the world of game engines, where he first began to explore real-time graphics and interactive environments. This experience, combined with his early forays into the underground visuals scene, provided the experimentation and the development of his creative vision.
His career trajectory led him in collaboration with Chris Bird and Matt Clark to create United Visual Artists (UVA), a renowned art and design practice celebrated for its innovative use of light, motion, and digital technologies. At UVA, he spearheaded the development of a groundbreaking real-time visualiser, a tool that would profoundly impact the industry. This visualiser, meticulously crafted, became the foundational technology for d3.
Ash co-founded d3 Technologies, quickly establishing itself as an industry leader in integrated visual production software. The platform has empowered countless artists, designers, and production teams to create immersive and dynamic visual experiences for concerts, theatrical performances, architectural projections, and virtual production sets. The company's innovative solutions and commitment to pushing technological boundaries led to its eventual rebranding as disguise, a name that continues to be synonymous with cutting-edge visual production.
Currently, Ash remains at the forefront of technological innovation, engaged in building a new project that is presently in stealth mode. This ongoing endeavor underscores his relentless drive to explore new frontiers and his enduring commitment to shaping the future of creative technology.
Luis Bravo Martins is an XR strategist and community builder working at the intersection of immersive tech, safety standards, and augmented work. He serves as Vice President of XRSI Europe, where he focuses on safety and privacy frameworks for virtual worlds, and is Chief Marketing Officer at KIT-AR, a startup enabling augmented workers in manufacturing. He’s co-author of the Wiley book Metaversed: See Beyond the Hype (2023) and co-author of Impacts of Sensetech on Society (IGI Global, 2025). Active in XR since 2014, Luis also speaks widely and recently edited the Portugal XR Report 2024 mapping talent, investment, and research in the ecosystem.
