To start, a visual moodboard consisting of photo references was established to provide compositional and stylistic treatments that could be utilized.

No traditional jewellery pieces would be used and the only visual interest would come from crystal gemstones that would be placed on the face itself. Keeping that in mind, a rough layout of pieces on the face needed to be flushed out. Our hope was that a makeup artist would be able to work with what we would provide and feel comfortable taking on the project by having a visual reference in mind.

It just so happened that a talented local make-up artist had done this type of work before. We reached out to Mariam after coming across her Instagram feed and as soon as we got her on board, things started to come together. A color palette started taking shape after Esha at Designerz Den came on board willing to provide an outfit for the collaboration.

We scouted a location at SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) that was versatile enough to provide scope for both photography and videography. Although portrait photography was a priority, we kept a lose concept in mind for video should the opportunity present itself. The institute’s parkade of all places proved to be worthy of wonderful mute backdrops while the institution’s exterior gave us unlimited video scope.

The day of the shoot started out at Mariam’s humble abode. A portion of our team was there throughout the entire process to ensure that creative support was at hand for makeup and hair. Mariam was also gracious enough to provide help from Ramza to ensure that a hair updo would present the forehead as a blank canvas.

Each crystal piece had to be meticulously placed by Mariam to give justice to the original layout. A skin safe silicone based adhesive was used to make sure that the pieces stayed in place in spite of excessive movement. We would soon find out that patience was indeed the name of the game.

Once we arrived at SAIT for the shoot, Anum, our talent, came alive and followed our directions with sheer tenacity. Here’s the team in action.

On shoot day, we were a bit pressed for time and didn't get to utilize the beautiful exteriors of our location for video purposes. Instead, we shot bits and pieces of footage throughout the entire day and created a teaser that would get people excited before we published photos on social media.

The idea of doing something different has always been at the heart of our ideation process. A big shout out to all those who were involved in the success of this execution and helping us push creative boundaries in YYC. Here’s the end result.