Biography

Quynh Lilouw is a French artist and designer of Vietnamese descent, born in 1990, in the southern suburbs of Paris. Through her older brother and cousins, she was introduced to martial arts films, manga and video games, at a young age. It is through drawing, a medium she immediately fell in love with, that she discovered a way of bringing these different universes together. It allowed her to give free rein to her imagination.

Through gymnastics, figure skating and by way of dance, she also developed a keenness for sports disciplines and the art of movement very early on. Some years later, she intensively practised physical activities such as Breakdance, acrobatics and contortion. All of this, in between studying, working in the family business and a growing passion for photography. For eight years, using her trusty camera, Quynh immortalized the fleeting moments of life, the architecture of the ‘banlieue’ she is from, and the movements and acrobatics of her friends.

After studying interior design, she turned to the world of fashion and specialized in sportswear design. At the confluence of her various artistic interests, this path would prove to be the ideal setting for her. In 2015, Quynh joined the “Adidas Originals Women” team in Germany to work on lifestyle collections. She then left for the United States to join the “Adidas Top Creator” team, where she had the opportunity to work in collaboration with renowned artists such as, Pharrell Williams and Beyonce.

Today, more than ever, Quynh is dedicated to her passions and honing her visual style. Through her modern “kawaii” style of clothing creations, her illustrations of slender, large-handed alien-like characters, or even photography and video, Quynh imbues each of her projects with her passion for movement with postures, colours, volumes and fabrics. Through her artistic expression, she found a way to convey her feelings and relationship with the world around her.

South London born artist and acrobat, Beren D’Amico, spent the early years of his life on tour with his parents who were performers for the French circus company, Archaos. His father was the lead of Thunderdogs, a band who performed the soundtrack to Archaos’ show ‘Metal Clown’, and his mother, a dancer and artist who performed as a clown in the show. This set Beren onto a path of being obsessed with all things physical.

Beren grew up distracted from school, often in trouble and spent his time doodling in textbooks instead of working. At eight, Beren discovered Taekwondo, which inspired his urge to focus and make good use of his fidgety energy. He eventually learnt a martial arts-based form of acrobatics called ‘Tricking’, and decided that this was a discipline that he wanted to adopt.

Life came full circle when Beren found the circus again. He attended the National Centre for Circus Arts, where he honed his acrobatic skills that were previously self- taught. In 2013, Beren graduated and co-founded the acrobatic circus
company, Barely Methodical Troupe, whose shows have opened for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, London International Mime Festival, Montréal Complètement Cirque, and have toured internationally.

All the while, on the road, Beren obsessed over film and photography, trying to formulate ways to mix acrobatics with film and visuals, testing how to present movement outside the realms of live performance.

Realising that a smart phone allowed him to create anytime, anywhere, Beren could act as soon as inspiration consumed him. Through obsessive pursuits and limited resources, he formed his own style of sounds and visuals; multi-limbed stills, animated short films and sample-based compositions, all created in the palm of his hands.