CULMIA — From Empty Space by Marcela OttiliaCULMIA — From Empty Space by Marcela Ottilia

CULMIA — From Empty Space

Marcela Ottilia

Marcela Ottilia

CULMIA — From Empty Space to Home Visual Concept & Art Direction for a Branded Stage Experience How do you turn the emotional journey of building a home into a physical and visual experience? Culmia needed a visual concept capable of expressing more than architecture. The project had to communicate transition, construction, change and, ultimately, the emotional meaning of creating a home. The challenge was to translate an abstract brand idea into a stage environment that could evolve alongside the performance.
The space needed to feel poetic rather than literal, support movement and projection, and transform through different narrative states without losing its visual unity. The stage was conceived as a layered, evolving space.
Translucent fabrics, projected architectural imagery, cardboard boxes, bricks and domestic objects represented the different emotional stages of creating a home: uncertainty, construction and finally belonging.
The architecture was not presented as something static. It became a living environment shaped by movement, light and human presence. The set did not simply represent a home. It showed the process of becoming one. 1. Transition
Layers of translucent fabric created depth and ambiguity. Projected architecture appeared and disappeared as the performers moved through the space, suggesting change, memory and possibility.
2. Construction
Boxes, bricks and an unfinished scenic fragment transformed the platform into a space under construction.
The dancers interacted physically with the materials, turning the act of building into part of the performance.
3. Home
The final environment became calmer, warmer and more inhabited.
A sofa, domestic lighting and everyday imagery replaced the temporary construction elements. The stage stopped being a space to cross and became a place to stay. Creative Direction Art Direction Visual Concept Development Set Design Visual Storytelling Scenic Narrative Moodboard & Previsualization Materials and Prop Selection
I developed the visual concept, scenic narrative and art direction, defining how the same stage could evolve through different emotional and physical states.
I translated the central idea into spatial composition, materials, projections, scenic objects and visual references, creating a clear proposal for production and performance. The final proposal transformed the idea of housing into an emotional visual journey.
Through a modular scenic system, the environment moved from uncertainty to construction and finally to the warmth of an inhabited home.
The project demonstrates how art direction and visual storytelling can make an intangible brand message visible, physical and emotionally understandable. CULMIA From Empty Space to Home Visual Concept & Art Direction
Like this project

Posted Jul 29, 2026

CULMIA — From Empty Space to Home Visual Concept & Art Direction for a Branded Stage Experience How do you turn the emotional journey of building a home int...