fondue

Inside the LK Studio: Nicole Ranucci

Steve — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:18:30 +0000

As The LK™ family grows, we only get stronger, bolder, faster, and more refined. This week we have the pleasure of introducing you to a new member of the LK™ family who not only has fantastic taste in YouTube™ videos, but hits the ball out of the park when it comes to getting the job done. As the gold stars continue to rain down on her, it gives me a tremendous amount of joy in welcoming, Nicole Ranucci.

Q: What is your favorite word?
A: Ridiculous and Pheromones

Q: What is your least favorite word?
A: Average and Robust

Q: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
A: Kindness and a natural grasp of humanity in general.

Q: What turns you off?
A: Negativity and lack of interest or drive.

Q: What is your favorite curse word?
A: Bullshit!

Q: What sound or noise do you love?
A: The sound the coffee maker makes when it’s done brewing, even before I’ve gotten out of bed.

Q: What sound or noise do you hate?
A: The sound of people screaming out on the street while sleeping. Unless it’s a really entertaining.

Q: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
A:Midwife/ Doula (I’ll be honest)

Q: What profession would you not like to do?
A: Poo Scooper at the circus

Q: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
A: “Welcome to heaven, make I take your order?”

The next chapter in our book holds many pretty “conceptual” tales straight from the king of Wacom™, Ben Zylberman.

Our Darling Companion.

Steve — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:27:07 +0000

Ben Zylberman, our resident illustrator, took the paintbrush off the clock and made some killer mattes for the upcoming Sony Picture Classics™ film Darling Companion, coming out nationwide this Friday, April 20th. You can check out all the details at Darling Companion’s website.

We can’t wait to see it on the big screen! Congrats, Ben!

Inside the LK Studio: Valere Amirault

Steve — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:03:30 +0000

We have this funny feeling that the LK Europeans are making a mad dash back to their home countries… oh no. It’s true! Does it smell bad in New York? Maybe we shouldn’t answer that.

One of our dear animators, Valere Amirault, will soon find his way back to delicious food and romance. Back to long lunch breaks and family. Back to half a year of vacation and protests. Back to France. We sat down with Valere to hear his philosophies of life. Like they say, less is more.

Q: What is your favorite word?
A: Bottoms up

Q: What is your least favorite word?
A: Alarm clock

Q: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
A: Wine

Q: What turns you off?
A: Too much wine

Q: What is your favorite curse word?
A: Saperlipopette

Q: What sound or noise do you love?
A: The sound of sea

Q: What sound or noise do you hate?
A: The sound of sea with kids screaming in the background.

Q: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
A: Blue men

Q: What profession would you not like to do?
A: Toothbrush

Q: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
A: Welcome home son!

Slam dunkin’ it daily… Nicole “Nooch” Ranucci is on the court next.

Inside the LK Studio: Katrin Winther

Steve — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:48:25 +0000

We hoped the time would never come, but it has. The LK™ flag from The Faroe Islands slash Copenhagen, Denmark is about to fly at half-mast in honor of our dear winter intern, Katrin Winther, who has to leave NY and return to Copenhagen to finish her degree. Not only is Katrin a total sweetheart who has graced our studio with a tremendous amount of class, she’s also an incredibly talented web designer, kick-ass graphic designer, pitch-perfect singer in the Royal Choir, and straight up all-star at tying her scarf around her neck. We can imagine her perfectly knotted scarf floating gracefully behind her as she speeds away in an elegant, vintage convertible.

Before leaving, we asked Katrin to give us the run down on how she achieves her well deserved adjective of awesome.

Q: What is your favorite word?
A: Snyk (It’s Faroese, pronounced “Snique” and originally means grease but is slang for gross

Q: What is your least favorite word?
A: I don’t have one… I generally love words in all languages

Q: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
A: The weather, people, music, trees, mountains, ocean and a lot of other stuff

Q: What turns you off?
A: Bad smells

Q: What is your favorite curse word?
A: Fanin steiki koli brenni svartasta helviti! (Meant to be said as a sentence and it’s for when you’re really REALLY angry)

Q: What sound or noise do you love?
A: The sound that After Effects makes when a render is done!

Q: What sound or noise do you hate?
A: Whiny people! And people singing off-pitch. Anything off-pitch really.

Q: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
A: Behavioral psychology

Q: What profession would you not like to do?
A: Teacher. Just because I would be really bad at it.

Q: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
A: “No hard feelings”

Tune in next time to hear from “42″ himself, Valere Amirault.

Toxic Baby™ Hits TED

Steve — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:05:02 +0000

In case you haven’t been consuming your Recommended Daily Allowance of Fondue recently, please allow us to spoon feed you some exciting news about Toxic Baby™, a documentary that has been orbiting the LK sphere for some time now. If you’re completely new to Toxic Baby™, here is a little bit of backstory: six years ago, documentary filmmaker Penelope Jagessar Chaffer had a powerful realization about the impact of modern chemicals on our bodies and its transference into our children. This motherly awareness materialized from concept, to documentary work-in-progress, and is now a fully realized feature documentary with a fancy New York City premiere later this month. Oh, how quickly they grow up…

Penelope and her husband Elliot Chaffer, LK’s magnificent Creative Director, utilized LK’s Betterment Bureau™ (led by Elliott, himself) to design and animate the opening titles, lower thirds, and graphic title cards. But you already knew that. The *news*, dear reader, is that Penny presented Toxic Baby™ at TEDWomen, and it has finally been uploaded to the TED website. Oh, happy day! Check out the full video HERE.

LK is proud as punch of Penny, and we wish Toxic Baby™ all the success in the world.

Inside the LK Studio: Josh Lynne

Steve — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:34:36 +0000

We’re back on track with our much-loved and much-ballyhooed interview series. Coming up to the plate this week is the Truest™ of all the True Players™, Josh Lynne. Not only is “JJ” as we call him a kick-ass designer, but he is also one of the nicest and most genuine dudes in the biz. When your friend says he “know’s a guy”, its most likely Josh. Now let’s pour out a little Cristal™, and give it up for Josh Lynne.

Q: What is your favorite word?
A: It changes daily, but I heard someone say “Playblast” this morning.

Q: What is your least favorite word?
A: Anything that gets an “r” unintentionally tagged onto the end… you get the idear.

Q: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
A: Trying to do it, be it, make it… better.

Q: What turns you off?
A: UGGs™

Q: What is your favorite curse word?
A: I know it’s a surprise to everyone, but I indeed have dropped a couple “F-bombs” in my day.

Q: What sound or noise do you love?
A: Silence

Q: What sound or noise do you hate?
A: Packing tape

Q: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
A: A high-rise sign painter.

Q: What profession would you not like to do?
A: Anything that involves getting paid a “VERY” minimum wage at Riker’s Island.

Q: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
A: “Dillon!”

Next stop, our well dressed elegant Danish intern Katrin!

Happy Holi-daze!

Steve — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:30:24 +0000

Last Friday, LK took time-out to come together and celebrate another successful year. We started the evening with a rousing thunderdome-style gift exchange and general pre-funk. After the gift wrap had settled, and we were all belly warm and ready to venture, we made our way to Beauty and Essex for a delicious meal. We ended the evening by marathoning our way to closing time at a watering hole on the Lower East Side. Big thanks to David and Beat for hosting such a wonderful party, and more big thanks to everyone involved with LK in 2011. It was an excellent year, and we have many people to thank and many blessings to count. Here’s to you and yours in 2012.

Is Uncle Jym happy or sad while auditing the bill? Only God knows.

The (very) Young Artists of LK.

Steve — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:36:59 +0000

Last week, the LK Studio was graced with the presence of many of our very sweet, very talented LK progeny. We let them go nuts on our conference room chalkboard wall, much to our visual delight. Clearly, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Shout out!

Steve — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:52:25 +0000

At this year’s Promax BDA conference, held here in New York in June, Al Gore was the keynote speaker… and guess who got a very surprising shout out for the work we did on the Current TV Rebrand!? No, it wasn’t Garth Brooks.

This complete session and others from PromaxBDA: The Conference 2011 are available to watch on demand. Check it out here.

Announcing…

Steve — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:20:40 +0000

The LK Family™ continues to grow! We send our deepest love and most heartfelt congratulations to our beloved Daniel and his gorgeous wife Carla. Thank you for your continued commitment to creating beautiful things.