Lillico-Fennessy’s Studio Iso Project Donates Talent & Time to Small Businesses Affected by COVID-19.

Like many others in the creative industries, two of Melbourne’s brightest talents, art director Jessica Lillico and photographer Sean Fennessy, found themselves with quite a bit of extra time on their hands during the Coronavirus lockdown.

The pair, who are also partners in life, virtually had all of their work postponed or cancelled overnight. Rather than sit around at home perfecting their sourdough recipe, making banana bread or taking up pottery, they decided to actively stay inspired while helping fellow small businesses using their skills. And so ‘Studio Iso’ was born – an experimental still-life studio that offers a limited number of free small-scale photoshoots to businesses who have been hit hard by COVID-19.

Their first shoot was created for talented Melbourne furniture makers Fomu, who launched their beautiful new L’Art Lounge Chair with these images. And Sean points out, Jess was responsible for “the vision/direction/styling/actual hard work and I took care of the camera/playlist/dad jokes.” Typical. Ha!

Read on for a quick chat with Sean and Jess about their fantastic initiative.

+ Can you tell us a little more about Studio Iso and how it came about?

It was a combination of wanting to use our newfound downtime to help some fellow small businesses, and also an exercise for us to stay motivated and creative. Being a couple with complementary skills, it makes sense for Jess and I to work together during this time of isolation.

+ Do these images for Fomu and your process in capturing them differ from how you usually work, and if so – how?

The appeal for us was that we had full creative control over the direction and execution of the shoot, which is not always the case on a commercial campaign. Of course, the risk is that the client may not like the images, but we’re willing to take that risk!

Another quite nice consequence is that we were forced to keep everything simple – just the two of us on set, minimal lighting, using props that Jess had in storage. Proof that not all shoots have to be a big production!

+ How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work and your life day-to-day?

Work was pretty much switched off in an instant. A lot of my shoots involve some sort of travel so that is obviously not an option at the moment. Jess had much of her upcoming work cancelled too. We have a toddler, so we were already home a lot, but luckily, we held onto a couple of days of childcare and are determined to use it in a productive way!

+ How are you feeling right now and how would you like to emerge on the other side of this situation?

Like everyone, there is a lingering sense of anxiety and confusion. Working freelance is always fickle, so in that respect we are probably more familiar with the uncertainty than others in more concrete professions. On the other side, we hope that an increased appreciation for the simple life leads to more environmentally conscious choices – not just by individuals but our leaders too.

+ Do you have any advice for creatives navigating this challenging time?

Try to maintain some sort of routine and limit your time on Instagram. Try not to indulge in too much “kalsarikännit”!

+ Any interesting facts or surprisingly realisations that came from this project so far?

People really are happy to help each other out when they can. In the case of the Fomu shoot, we had a few key collaborators who donated their skills, including the very talented Mockturtle Design who painted a bespoke backdrop, and retoucher Jaclyn Paterson who added the finishing touches to the images.

[Images courtesy of Lillico-Fennessy. Styling/ art direction by Jessica Lillico. Photography by Sean Fennessy.]