Preface: Oh, the irony of sharing a recap about how slow 2024 was, posted three months deep into 2025 because things picked up speed! That’s how it goes. Better late than never!?
2024 Studio Portrait by Robbie Augspurger
As an independent studio, keeping a steady stream of work and leads coming in is one of the hardest things to manage. While I celebrated a few large achievements in 2024, overall this was one of the slowest work years in recent memory. Friends and colleagues shared similar sentiments with me. This squeeze was felt across the entire creative industry as agencies, studios, and clients tightened their belts feeling some uncertainty to come. The biggest thing I’ve learned over the past 12 years, is that working independently is more a mental exercise than anything. Balancing the excitement of a new opportunity while not counting your eggs until they hatch— I find strength in working hard, trusting the process, and remembering that you never know what’s coming next week!
Light Capsule No.40 'Waldron Drug Store' — The Dalles, OR
I'm very proud of the projects we completed this year, starting with the launch of a beautiful permanent Light Capsules installation in The Dalles, Oregon, commissioned directly from the city, which brought to life a massive 80-foot-wide owl cigar ad from 1916. This is a permanent installation that the public can visit whenever they please, year-round, visible from sunset to sunrise. ... More on our Light Capsules project site!
Tinker Shoebox for W+K Portland.
We had the pleasure of working on a specialty project with Wieden+Kennedy for an internal event honoring Tinker Hatfield and his impact on footwear design. We were tasked with creating a seemingly magic object where all of the technology is hidden within a large-scale replica shoebox. This was a really fun project to put together. We utilized a compact Rosco light fixture, DMX controller, and LED strip lighting concealed into a replica of the original 1987 Nike Air Max 1 to illuminate the iconic midsole air bubble. This installation is on permanent display at the W+K Portland office. Early in my design career, I worked on the industrial design team at JDK, designing footwear for Chaco, so this was a special full-circle moment to create an installation honoring one of the greatest shoe designers in the world. — More about this project on Winslow Studio.
'Futopia in Motion' for Ripple Swell at Faena Hotel Miami Beach
One of our favorite projects this year—hell, one of our favorites in the past few years—was a series of mural projections for Ripple Swell at the beautiful Faena Hotel Miami Beach. Experiential agency Manifold brought us on board for this very site-specific light installation, making a stunning spectacle of four large oil painting murals by Juan Gotti. It was the perfect project for us, combining incredibly detailed, precise projection mapping and creating animations that tastefully augmented a complex hierarchy of symbols, elevating the projection mapping medium into fine art. The fantastic display attracted Alan Faena himself, who came to check it out and was completely blown away. — See this project in motion.
Crossover keynote at LDI/DSE 2024.
To wrap up the year, I was incredibly proud to have been the crossover keynote speaker at LDI/DSE in Las Vegas. My talk focused on the source of all my ethos and innovation: embracing play and childlike wonder. Putting together this talk made me reflect on some of my old work that got me here in the first place, and I’m excited to get back to making for the sake of making.
Early 2024 visit to Fort Point / Seaport, Boston in front of mural by Ryan Adams (@ryanwritesonthings).
What's next? For the Portland Winter Lights Festival, now in its 10th year, I created a massive new projection artwork called ‘Timeless Lustre,’ and a new Light Capsule reviving the legendary Blitz-Weinhard-Co. We’re thrilled to be working with the Evel Knievel Museum in Las Vegas on a few different projection installations. We also hope to have exciting news surrounding Light Capsules and the Route 66 Centennial celebrations leading into 2026!
In these recaps, I like to reflect on momentum gained and big wins, but this year was hard, and one of the slowest for me. Coming to terms with that is difficult in a world that often expects exponential growth. 2024 was a year of internal growth in a world of growing uncertainty. Putting trust in the process takes confidence, especially following a slow year.
I'm thankful this year has already picked up speed, clearly evidenced from such a delayed recap, so I'm looking forward to see what 2025 has in store.
—Craig
If you haven't yet, go check out the new Winslow Studio website! We built a whole new identity in 2023 and have been regularly sharing our latest works on winslow.studio
Looking for the rest of my blog? In 2023, I transitioned off of a Tumblr-powered blog. You can still view old posts here: blog.craigwinslow.com
