I identify as an unlabeled mutt with three national identities. My blood is Colombian, my soul is French (my adoptive country where I had the opportunity to launch my practice) and I currently live and work in New York City. I specialized in Luxury Management at l’Institut Français de la Mode in Paris and in Art, Design and the Public Domain at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Building legitimate bridges between exceptional craftsmanship, the visual arts, and the public space is at the core of my work.

I fostered my critical thinking and aesthetics as a creative consultant in the luxury, beauty, and fashion sectors. Some of the commissions I was entrusted with include:

Candyland short film by david gil short film by david gil

Alfred Dunhill

To perpetuate the heritage of 15 rue de la Paix, the last remaining store designed and inaugurated in 1924 by the founder himself. The result gave birth to a creative incubator where Dunhill Museum acquisitions and limited editions crafted by artisans had center stage.

Premiere Vision & IFM

To forecast the changing behavior of men vis-a-vis their appearance and fashion with a series of filmed interviews of menswear designers and influencers in Paris, London, Antwerp, and New York. The results were published by Editions du Regard.

BVBA 32

To disrupt the creative process of Antwerp fashion design with a series of anonymous collections created in collaboration with the team of BVBA 32 in the face of the imminent departure of Ann Demeulemeester from her eponymous brand.

Faure Le Page

To study the DNA of the brand funded in 1716 and to reposition it in the luxury accessory market with a first store at 21 Rue Cambon, the same location where Gabrielle Chanel opened her first shop in 1910.

My creative process

In parallel, my interest in the vanishing intersections between artistic mediums of expression inspired me to form a Collective of Artists, to develop a collaborative creative process, and to lead and produce ambitious multidisciplinary artistic projects at the intersection of design, visual art, and film.

Festival of Hyeres

For my first independent project, I submitted 10 silhouettes, an explosive fashion show performance proposal, and an experimental short film to the International Festival of Hyeres where my work received two awards.

French Ministry of Culture

Later, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication gave me Carte Blanche for an installation in the windows of the Palais Royal in Paris.

I was also invited to include my work in multiple collective exhibitions in Europe, USA, and Japan.

IMAGE MAKING

The pivotal point of my career, took place when I started experimenting with filmmaking. At this moment, the role of the creative director was expanding in the luxury sector beyond product design to also include image-making.

Sephora

LVMH saw potential in my audio-visual independent projects and invited me to produce an experimental animation short film using the brand codes of Sephora as the main character. The result served as the creative direction brief for Where Beauty Beats, the brand’s 2013 European Ad campaign produced by BETC.

FilmMAKING

I pursued my autodidactic passion for the craft of filmmaking with my first short documentary. For 5 years, I followed a series of contemporary dance workshops and public performances at l’Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière and Micadanses in Paris. The workshops caught the attention of doctors at l’Institut du Cerveau (ICM), who launched a protocol of neuroscientific research to measure the contribution of dance for those affected by the incurable disease. The 15-minute documentary was screened at the Cinema Grand Action in Paris and by France Televisions.

FIRST Documentary

The dancers and choreographers are affected by Huntington, a hereditary neurodegenerative illness characterized by involuntary movements. The symptoms of chorea poetically morphed into liberating choreographic gestures, and the stigmatized ill body into a performer integrated into society.

NARRATIVE FilmMAKING

In 2020, I funded deleted films, the current framework of my collaborative creative process. Since then, I have had the opportunity to independently write, direct, and produce my first narrative short film in collaboration with Matthew J. Siegel, my mentor and co-producer. Matt is a CLIO and Emmy Award-winning producer, director of photography, and camera operator with experience in features such as The Matrix: Reloaded, Spiderman 2, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and others. The 13-minute short was finished in March 2024. I am currently submitting to the international film festival circuit and working on my next short film to be shot in the coming months.

DELETED FILMS

My responsibilities include story, script, storyboard, cast, rehearsals, locations, set design, costume, logistics, and post-production. Matt takes care of the camera and crew. We aim to tell experimental socially engaged narratives, to cast underrepresented talent, and to collaborate with a crew composed of at least 50% women.

David Gil

CV