About Ahola Production Design
Ahola Production Design – an allround production design agency. We create and develop set designs for television, live events and concerts. Working across fields including digital editing in Adobe Creative Suite, 3D modeling in VectorWorks, we strongly belief that the way we apply art and photography in set design makes us unique.
Anne-Mari Ahola is the founder of Ahola Production Design, set designer and visual artist.
About Anne-Mari Ahola
‘’I approach the set design from an artistic perspective’’
The set design had my interest early and led to the choice of study program for theater and costume design. I graduated cum laude as a master of arts in scenography at the Academy for the Visual Arts in Maastricht in 1995.
After graduating in 1996 I started to work as a young talent at the Dutch Broadcasting Production Company. Over the period of 1999 to 2007 I worked consistently as a set designer on various and successful television productions both nationally and internationally. The experience gained during those years is the key to the success of my design agency.
The priority in my set designs is the development of the briefing to a visually credible concept. This brings together all disciplines, such as light, form, color and sound. Ultimately, the concept must be feasible. My approach in design is not only to create a technical masterpiece or focus on the aesthetic values. I strongly belief that the artistic approach is the key to a successful and distinctive design.
‘’As a set designer the main focus will be on developing authentic ideas also in the future‘’
Through my 20 years of experience, I have the expertise to be able to develop the space into a successful set especially in this rapidly changing market. Faced with complex, ever-changing challenges, I constantly will be on the lookout for fresh ideas and generate them if necessary. To keep knowledge up-to-date and follow the trends, I regularly visit the trade fairs and follow workshops in the field of new media and design.
In addition to the set designs, I have expertise in the visual arts, particularly in photography. Through this multidisciplinary approach and experience, I distinguish myself from most designers in the field of set design.
Method of working
We provide a complete design package including advice, set design, 3D visualization, technical drawing, materialization and project management an. For an additional fee, depending on the assignment, we develop custom made artwork, high quality photography including the creative DTP work.
Because every assignment is unique, we do not use a strict, unambiguous method. The design process starts with a briefing that gives direction to the creative process. After the creative brief and client feedback, we provide an estimate of the design costs. Depending on the available budget, that is fixed or varies, we work with two types of approaches for estimating the budget: the top-down estimate or the bottom-up estimate.
In estimate the design project budget, the cost of each design stage will be determined and calculated in three phases as followed: concept, provisional and final. Each phase is including the costs of design hours and the design assignment description. The additional costs such as travel costs, administrative, licenses, stock photos and materials are calculated separately. Once the budget is approved, it will documented clearly in the final agreement. In the contract will be taken into account the specific agreements such as Terms and Conditions, Contractual Terms, goals, outcomes and time.
‘’We find it important to allow our clients to express their views on the design and our services‘’
Set design development projects can be highly technical and complex. The design projects have a broad range and require often other skills that fall easily into set design category. For example set construction, styling, lighting, sound, video, interactive communication in VR, AR or MR. After 20 years experience in the industry we can provide targeted communications and help you by bringing into contact with the qualified specialists.
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