Richard Kinsella

Name: Richard Kinsella
Age: 21
Where from: Glasgow

Scottish student Richard Kinsella is studying Visual Communications at Glasgow School of Art. As part of his course, he recently designed a logo for the Scottish Cinema of Dreams Festival in Beijing. This is linked with the joint partnership between Glasgow School of Art and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

The Scottish Government has been working over the last two years with partners such as Scottish Screen to develop a long-term programme of film activity which connects Scotland and China. March 2009 saw Chinese audiences transported to The Scottish Cinema of Dreams, a recreated Scottish ballroom which offered them a unique taste of Scotland's cultural treasures.

The Cinema of Dreams in China sustains the links already achieved through the highly successful Cinema China film festival in Scotland. The Cinema China film festival ran in 2007 and covered eight decades.
The recent Scottish-Chinese co-production was also an opportunity for one Scottish-based student to part of something unique.

Richard Kinsella, 4th year Visual Communications student at Glasgow School of Art, was approached to be part of a joint partnership between the School and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing to design a logo for the Cinema of Dreams, a chance he couldn’t turn down.

"Art is something I’ve always done and my three main disciplines are graphic design, applied visuals and photo illustration," says Richard. "I was asked to help design a new logo for the project as part of a small team, some of whom had actually flown over from Beijing to study in Glasgow.

"The brief for the logo was around the concept of translation and how that can be interpreted in different ways visually. We brainstormed various ideas with the client and kept in mind our deadlines and aims: we obviously had to be ready for the start of the festival and also be part of an exhibition to promote new designers."

Co-curated by acclaimed actress Tilda Swinton and writer, broadcaster and film critic Mark Cousins, the Beijing-based festival replicated their original and highly successful Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams which took place in Nairn, Scotland in August 2008.

Travelling to Beijing to see his logo in place, Richard was happy to witness Swinton wearing a t-shirt with his design as she greeted local movie-goers at the opening ceremony.

While Richard is pleased to have been part of such an important international project, he’s just as happy to now be back working in Glasgow.

"I think it's a nice community life –Scotland is a small country and it’s easy to make contacts and to get to know each other. It's my home."

Related links

• Scottish Screen
• Glasgow School of Art
• Find out more about Arts and Culture in Scotland
• Find out more about studying in Scotland