In the latest episode of our PRIVATE VIEW(S) podcast we meet Israel-based branding agency Nihilo to learn more about their immersive, craft-led creative process, and the unusually close-knit partnership that underpins everything they do.
Founders Margaret Kerr-Jarrett and Emunah Winer – who are in the process of relocating the business to Ohio – share their thoughts on copywriting versus verbal design, their sense that creativity is a refuge from the challenges of everyday life, and discuss how ambition doesn’t always have to be driven by growth.
Below we’ve shared a few soundbites from the episode, but you can catch the whole thing on Spotify, Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts.
“We didn’t fit into any of the traditional models, both in the way that we can work, the work we produced, and the clients who are willing to work with us to produce those typical measurable outcomes. So we were like, ‘screw this, we’re just doing what feels right’.” – Emunah
“We get very focused on subject matter, and dive deep into whatever we’re working on. We only take a very small amount of projects on at any one time, because we want to have that full capacity for intuition to produce the work at the level we want to produce it at.” – Margy
“We were always very strong about this idea of the work comes first – it doesn't matter who we are, it’s about the work and producing the best work. I think we’re slowly coming to terms with the fact that a) you can never really separate yourself from the work and b) it’s ok if who we are means something to other people. We can own that in an authentic way.” – Emunah
“People see that we have a different point of view and that’s in our work but also just in our life. We live in a very different place within a very different culture, and we see things through a very different lens or set of lenses.” – Margy
“Verbal design does sound a little bit made up or snobby, sometimes, but that’s really what it is. I don't want to be a writer working in marketing, I’m a writer working in design. I’m doing a form of design but using writing as my tool, and I think as an agency we really want to emphasize that it’s not just copywriting thrown on the page – it’s designed, and crafted in a custom way to really give forth whatever message we’re trying to share in tandem with the design.” – Margy
