Meet the Woop team
WOOP studios, a design company based in London has created a print called ‘A Streak of Sumatran Tigers’ - designed exclusively for ZSL’s Tiger SOS campaign. Meet the faces behind the print (as well as the designers of the Harry Potter movies) in our exclusive web interview.
Directors, Founders and "Woopies": Eduardo Lima, Miraphora Mina, Harriet Logan, and Mark Faulkner
What do Woop studios do?
Founded in June 2010, Woop Studios is group of 4 friends who share a fascination with graphics and collective nouns. We focus upon the creation of original limited edition prints in combination with unusual and striking collective terms – something we call “collective nouns in pictures.” Most people know that it’s a “pride of lions” and “an army of ants” – but the fact that it’s also “an implausibility of gnus” and “an aurora of polar bears” may be news to some. Woop Studios also works with charities and helps promote specific campaigns and raise funds.
You were graphic designers on the Harry Potter films. What did you work on?
Having worked from the first film through to the final, we were fortunate to be able to create a graphic style from the very beginning. For those of you who are familiar with the films, here are some of the weird & wonderful props we had fun designing: The Marauders Map, The Daily Prophets (around 50 different ones!), 'Beedle The Bard' & 'Advanced Potion Making' books (& numerous other books), Weasley Wizard Wheezes shop (over 100 different package designs) the Howler, The Quibbler, proclamations, etc...!
How and why did you get involved with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)?
Shortly after our launch ZSL Media Manager saw an extensive article in a national newspaper’s Saturday supplement and contacted us. We were surprised and delighted as ZSL London Zoo was one of our “dream partners” when we were planning our business and thinking about partners that we’d like to work with. Several meetings and many discussions later we came up with the idea of creating a print to highlight the plight of the 300 Sumatran Tigers left in the world. We thought that the simplicity of the message was very appealing and have created a unique image with 300 limited edition prints that will hopefully make some positive impact upon ZSL’s campaign.
The exclusive tiger print 'A Streak of Sumatran Tigers' Animals are the subject of one of your collective noun alphabets. Why do you think prints of animals are so popular?
Many of our images do contain animals as the origin of many collective terms can be traced back to terms associated with animals – often birds that were hunted. There is a rich vein of collective terms associated with animals and we have created a number of collections – A-Zs of animals, A-Zs of collective terms, A British Birds Collection that reflect this fascination. We have even produced a book “ A Zeal of Zebras” published by Chronicle that contains an alphabet and facts for the curious child or adult. ZSL probably know better than Woop why animals are so universally popular – maybe it’s because almost everyone has a favourite animal and when you combine that with peoples curiosity with words, letters and graphics you create an almost infinite range of possibilities.
Can you describe the significance of the tiger print you have designed to help raise funds for ZSL’s campaign Tiger SOS?
We are hoping that sales of the 300 Streak of Sumatran Tigers print will raise £45,000 for the ZSL’s campaign Tiger SOS. Woop Studios is donating half of the sale proceeds, or £150.00 per print, to ZSL’s campaign Tiger SOS. We are confident that ZSL will make good use of these funds. Their plans are exciting and positive and we would urge people to get involved and help save the Sumatran Tiger from extinction. It isn’t too late to make a difference.
The print has a powerful Sumatran Tiger image and 300 individual circles to represent each on of the estimated 300 Sumatran tigers left in the world. The collective term we have used is “a streak” which we felt was very appropriate and suited the concept we set out with.
Are tigers a particular favourite with Woop Studios?
We have to admit that in common with many other people tigers are a firm favourite of the Woop Studios team. As part of our first collection we created “an ambush of tigers” and were very pleased with the result. Tigers are iconic and their power and grace hold a special fascination for so many people – us included.
And finally, where can I buy a print?
You can buy “ A Streak of Sumatran Tigers” exclusively at www.woopstudios.com .
There is only a limited edition of 300 prints available at £300.00
