From writing death warrants for Henry VIII, to forging CIA documents, to making a new kind of biscuit, Dublin-based Annie Atkins (34) is an award- winning graphic designer for film and TV whose work includes the Oscar-winning Grand Budapest Hotel.
"I was born in Wales, though my Mum's Irish. Dad was a graphic designer and from the time I was little, I wanted to be one too.
"I studied visual communications in London, then went to Iceland – and stayed four years, before doing an MA in film at UCD. My first job in the industry was The Tudors, and no job since has been as exhilarating as when I found myself on set, surrounded by beautiful princesses in corsets drinking coffee out of Styrofoam cups.
"The Irish film and TV industry is busy, from Victorian London with Penny Dreadful, to Vikings to The Tudors. It's normal for international companies to work with local crews; so going to Germany with Wes Anderson for Grand Budapest Hotel was unusual. Wes had seen my work from Boxtrolls, an animation. You never know where something's going to lead.
"People don't always realise that everything you see in a film has been made. For Grand Budapest Hotel, that included money, passports, and those pink Mendl's patisserie boxes. One of the fun things is the fraudulence – like I'm forging documents. I just did a Spielberg movie [as yet untitled], and I got CIA stamps made by the Rubber Stamp Company. They called me, because you're not supposed to do that.
"I'm working on a new game for Playstation4, and also developing a limited edition biscuit as a collaborative project for the ID2015 exhibition Liminal, which goes to Milan, Eindhoven and New York. I'm in the process of setting up a new studio, Think and Son, with Eoghan Nolan, so that we can take on more work. It's very exciting."
Annie Atkins speaks at Offset Dublin, March 6th - 8th. See iloveoffset.com
