Name: Nicole Eng
Title: Lighting & Production Designer
Years Worked at VT: Since 2018.
Favorite Project: My favorite Project is [an NDA hospitality project] – since I grew up with the IP I thought it was really cool to work on the project because I know the IP well. I was able to have a better sense of the project because I felt like I had more of a personal connection with it.
Tell us your funniest or most memorable memory at Visual Terrain: We were on a series of site visits and Steeve promised me a site hamster. After giving me Hammy Douglas, I figured it was only appropriate for Hammy to have proper PPE because safety first. For the next trip he had his own hard hat, high-vis vest, and badge to get onto site. Hammy will be supervising all site work for now on. (Hammy may also be a Dodgers fan and it was Game 3 of the World Series aka the 2nd longest game in World Series history and we were on site till 1am and the game was still going on.)
Favorite Aspect of Lighting Design: I like how collaborative it is between all of the disciplines no matter what project it is. You don’t necessarily have to have a good lighting design, but I think that good lighting design has a big impact on everyone else’s work, and working with other disciplines to reach a common goal is a lot of fun.
What or Who Inspires You: The ultimate end user or guest. Our part in a project can have a big impact on a guest’s experience. We design for the guest, and I’m inspired by the possibility of creating a world for guests to enter and having my work be a part of their lives.
Fun Fact About Yourself that No One Knows: Something that not many people know is that I like to go rock climbing and I take aerial silk classes! Something that no one knows is that since the start of quarantine, I’ve crocheted over 50 stuffed animals that I’m planning on donating to my Mom’s school and her pre-k students. (About half of them are shown in the picture.)
What is your favorite part about being a lighting designer? I would say the people that I work with. All of us at Visual Terrain are theater people and while we have similarities we’re still very different. Theater people are a specific breed and I don’t think I would have met the same kind of interesting people that I would have if I wasn’t in this field of work.