Kartonaż Studio · Hala B, ul. Tymienieckiego 22, Łódź · since 2019
Everything in this studio is the wrong size on purpose. We cut the set out of 300 gsm board, stand it up at the wrong magnification and photograph the garment inside it. Nothing here was composited afterwards.
Series 014 · Brevis Knitwear SS25 · Hala B, 11 March 2025 · 1:1
Set 041 · board, dowel, pins · built in 2 days · 8:1
Stock test · 12 boards, one light · 4 Feb 2025
Plate 01 — the magnification ladder
Brevis Knitwear, Sadownik Eyewear, Mila Okonek, Hałda Objects, Ostoja Shoes, Kępa, Pola Wrona, Fenek, Trzeci Obieg, Węzeł and the Łódź Textile Biennale. Every one of them bought a set as well as a frame, because the two are the same purchase here. The ratio printed under each band is the magnification that band was built at — a coat at 1:8 is a coat the size of a stairwell, and a buttonhole at 12:1 is a buttonhole you can walk into. We quote the ratio before we quote the money, because the ratio is what sets the build days.
This band is the shoot, drawn. The head sits top right at 4.1 m, 38° off axis, and every shadow below falls away from it at the same angle — including the shadows under this type. There is no retouching stage in the list because there is almost none.
Day1
1:40 · the plan sheet
The set goes down on board first at 1:40, with the cyc and the lens height on it. If it will not stand up on the plan it will not stand up in the room — we learned that twice, at two days of board each time.
Days2–5
1:1 · nine sheets
1 400 × 1 000 mm, 300 gsm, scored on the bench and stood on 12 mm dowel. Mikołaj keeps every offcut, and the offcuts end up in the pictures as often as the pieces do.
Day6
one head · no fill
We light the empty set and chalk the shadow on the floor. The model stands where the shadow says, not where the camera would like. Board sags after three hours under the head, so the window is 110 minutes and then we strike.
Plate 03 — still life, pear at 1:8
Eleven contours, 2 340 mm of fruit, and a chair at 41 mm standing where a chair would never stand. Built over four days in March 2025 for Series 012; the shadow is thrown by one head at 38° and nothing else.
Bench, Hala B · 9 March 2025 · the pear in 11 contours before anything stood up
Each contour is a slice through the object at a fixed height, the way a plan is. Cut them all before you glue anything, or the stack goes out of true by the fourth sheet.
Cyc wall, Hala B · 10 March 2025 · dowel and 4 kg of counterweight
Nothing is hung. A 2.3 m paper form is held up by two 12 mm dowels and a sandbag, which is also why we do not shoot sets above 2.6 m — they move.
Hala B · 10 March 2025 · the room before the garment arrives
We light the empty set and mark the shadow on the floor in chalk. The model stands where the shadow says, not where the camera would like.
Hala B · 11 March 2025 · 214 frames, 9 delivered
Board sags once the lights have been on for three hours, so the shoot window is short on purpose. Strike takes 55 minutes and the offcuts go back into the store.
Selected frames · 2023–2025
Nothing in this rail was lit for a photograph. These are the rooms at 17:00, before anybody put a garment in them.
A whole room painted in one colour so a shoe could be the only object with an edge. Three build days, 22 sheets.
Every prop built eight times life size so a pair of frames would read as furniture. Five build days, 54 sheets.
14.2 × 9.6 m, 5.4 m to the truss, a 6.0 × 4.0 m cyc. Hire it with Mikołaj for 2 800 zł a day.
Shot in the room the set was cut in, with the bench still in frame. Two build days, 9 sheets, one 110-minute window.
A seed head at twelve times life size, 86 sheets, eight build days, and the only job we have ever run over on.
Kartonaż Studio · Hala B
“They sent a plan before they sent a quote. We knew what the room would look like three weeks before anyone put a coat in it.”
Agata Rembiszewska · brand director, Brevis Knitwear · campaign AW24
Four build days open in April. Lead time from brief to delivery is 19 working days.
