Eye Magazine

For more than two decades, London-based video designer and director Kate Dawkins has created work that makes a big impact. The canvases for her designs range from the lid of a Steinway piano in Westminster Abbey to the façades of castles and enormous outdoor stadiums.

Founded in 2016, her two-person company Kate Dawkins Studio (KDS), collaborates with an international range of clients in the world of live entertainment, creating dynamic visuals for performances, commemorative and ceremonial events such as the BAFTA-awarded ‘WWI Remembered: Passchendaele’ for the BBC, installations for the Islamic Arts Biennale, the 80th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day in Britain (2025) and the annual Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, on which she has worked since 2022.

Working mainly in the cultural sector, KDS is small and agile, with Dawkins and executive producer Sharmin Jackson the only staff, assembling bespoke teams of freelance specialists – motion designers, animators, musicians, etc. – for each project. Dawkins says, ‘As the creative director I shape the direction and design vision of the work, while drawing on the expertise of collaborators to bring that vision to life.’

Her practice is driven by a curious mindset and the principles of storytelling, backed up by in-depth research for each project. Asked how her teams navigate the various visual and sensory components working together in the shows they produce, Dawkins says, ‘Crafting narratives that are told through pictures is one aspect; then you add in the choreography of spatial storytelling – the dance of space, creating highs and lows, emotion and empathy, light and shade. Stories shouldn’t just be shown – they should be experienced and lived.’ …

Amy Henry designer, writer, lecturer, London

Read the full version in Eye no. 109 vol. 28, 2025