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Jay is the CD at Giant Ant, a creative studio in Vancouver he started with his wife, Leah, and runs with his amazing team. When not pressing computer buttons or fiddling with software knobs, he can be found wrestling with his four year old twins, Winter and Fern (and always winning).
giantant.ca
Ian & Nick started Gunner in Detroit after meeting over a slice of pizza. They were in a garage for a bit, then a bedroom, and then a real studio working on real projects! Wow wee! None of which would have been possible without Brandon, Marcus, Rachel, John, Collin, Andy, plus their amazing studio mates. They’ve got a treehouse full of peeps that can tackle all kinds of fun stuff. But if Gunner doesn’t work out... the team may have enough jokes to start their own short-lived Netflix comedy series?
gunner.work
Xoana is a designer and illustrator from Buenos Aires, currently based in LA. She started her career as a graphic designer and though always loved drawing, her professional career as an illustrator only began in 2013 when she moved to LA to work at Buck – a life switch full of challenges and barriers. After 5 years of hard work at Buck, becoming an art director, and also a mom, she moved into the freelance world.
xoanaherrera.com
Part One is a Stockholm based directing duo led by creatives Simon Appel and Oscar Pettersson. Their delicate animations and bold design lives in the borderland of realistic stop motion and modern 3D aesthetics. Oscar & Simon transform complexity into simple designs of the cleanest order, which give their work a strong sense of identity.
pt1.club
Born in Athens, Greece in 1986, Marie-Margaux decided she wanted to be an animator at the tender age of 3 and years later moved to England to pursue her dreams and work at Disney. Unfortunately, while studying at the Royal College of Art, she met two wonderful men, Daniel Chester and David Prosser, with whom she formed Moth Collective.
When not in the studio, Margaux loves teaching, doing talks and spreading the animation virus worldwide. The other half of her life is dedicated to Brazilian dancing :)
Nicolas is a Canadian director, designer and animator based in London, UK. His clear graphic language has transferred to animated short films, artists’ books, illustrations, commercials and posters.
A graduate of UQAM's School of Design and the Royal College of Art, his latest short Wednesday with Goddard won the Jury Award for Best Animated Short at SXSW 2017 and earned him a spot in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase.
Nicolas enjoys teaching and has been a guest lecturer in schools across Europe and Canada. He's also been on award juries for Anima Brussels and Motionographer.
Adina Sales is founder of Blacklist, a division of Psyop bringing studios with distinctive, artful voices from around the world to US commercial market.In 2018, her role expanded to the entire Psyop family of talent.
Now, as the current co-Managing Director, Adina's focus is on helping the larger company pivot in an ever-evolving marketplace, translating it into a collaborative and multi-disciplinary production company whose work blurs the lines of advertising and entertainment.
Adina started her career exploring the documentary world which led to an unexpected offer in Advertising. She spent 11 years within Advertising Agencies as a Producer and Executive Producer before switching to production.
Adina lives in Brooklyn with her beloved children, husband, and dog.
Handel Eugene is a Haitian American multidisciplinary artist, visual storyteller & father of 2 currently residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. You'll find Handel's wide variety of work at the intersection of design, animation & storytelling. This sweet spot is where he's focused his career, applying such approach to solve creative problems for Apple, Google, Nike, & Marvel Studios. Handel also serves in the education sector, currently teaching at Otis College of Art & Design, as well as mentoring students online at Mograph Mentor.
handeleugene.com
Joshua Beveridge is an animation supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks, most recently completing work on the Academy Award®-winning SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE.
Beveridge joined Imageworks in 2005 and his credits include: STORKS, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, I AM LEGEND, and SURF’S UP.
Beveridge attended the Ringling College of Art & Design and graduated with a degree in animation. He received a Visual Effects Society Award nomination for his contribution to I AM LEGEND and is a member of ASIFA.
Chrissy is the boss lady of Kineticards, an augmented reality-enabled stationery company that she runs in partnership with the incredible folks at Black Math in Boston, MA. The project began out of her dorm room at the Savannah College of Art and Design and has since grown into a collaborative effort by a team of mega-talented creatives and techies who have helped turn Kineticards into a globally represented brand. Their goal is to bring design and technology together in a way that strengthens human connections by utilizing the powers of both the physical and digital worlds.
kineticards.com
Ambrose is a Los Angeles-based music composer/producer and sound designer who specializes in original audio for commercials and films.
He likes to blend music and sound design in an unconventional and sometimes amusing way. When he’s not working, Ambrose is probably playing guitar/violin or spending way too much time looking at music gear demo videos on YouTube 🤓
Kendra Ryan grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, developing her creative skills with puppet shows and renegade carpet art in her bedroom. She holds a BFA in Painting from Miami University and an MFA in Animation and Digital Arts from USC. Her career has ranged from illustrating signage at Trader Joe’s, to directing award-winning design and animation for Apple, Lyft, LinkedIn, and Facebook at Buck. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, their bionic cat, and their other cat who eats bees.
buck.tv
An Irish director known for his unique style, Johnny Kelly was a mediocre graphic designer before embarking on an MA in animation at London’s Royal College of Art and becoming a mediocre director.Working with Nexus Studios, Johnny has created commercials and other miscellany for brands such as Apple, Facebook, Google, BMW, and Coca-Cola. He works with stop motion, live action, and anything else he can get his filthy mitts on.
johnnykel.ly
Our amazing animation & design community is all over the globe, but we meet and support each other in Vancouver.
This year, we’ll be hosting Blend right downtown at the Playhouse Theatre, a Vancouver hub for arts and creativity.
Visiting from afar? Welcome! You’ll like it here.
The venue is right downtown where you’ll find many hotels nearby like: St. Regis Hotel, the Sandman, Hotel BLU, or the Westin.
If you prefer Airbnb, check out neighbourhoods like the West End, Yaletown, Gastown and Olympic Village.
Vancouver is a very walkable city with bike and car share options (Mobi, Car2Go, Modo, Evo) and a decent public transit system. Unfortunately, we do not have UBER or Lyft but here are some cab options:
For the last 9 years, Wine after Coffee has hand-picked the most exceptional animations for your healthy audiovisual diet. A regular feast of inspiration pushes us to do better, and we go even further when we work together—so we decided to gather this unique talent under one roof.
This conference/party is carefully curated and created with much love by a small group of people: Jorge, Teresa, Claudio & Sander. They wanted to create a place for their motion, design & animation family to call home; to make a festival for the community, by the community. So they started Blend.
The heart of Blend and Wine after Coffee is to be a place, online and offline, where people from all around the world share awesome work, get inspired, learn, and collaborate. Because when we get together, amazing things happen.
What does the ticket include?
Each ticket includes 2 full days of Blend talks and performances, followed by an after-party each night. All tickets are all access.
Are meals included?
There will be snacks, but meals are not included. Your programs will include a map with a list of recommended places around the venue for lunch and dinner breaks.
Do you have discounts for groups and students?
We have only one ticket price for everyone.
Are there any age restrictions?
Unfortunately all guests must be 19+ to participate.
