We are delighted to introduce Virginia Mesiti as a new APDGreen collaborator, to further the conversations and access to resources around environmental sustainability practices developing on screens and stages across Australia and globally.

Virginia is a Sydney-based freelance Production Designer and Art Director. She balances mentoring of emerging designers with professional industry work and is a senior lecturer in production design at AFTRS.  She is passionate about promoting environmental sustainability in all its innovative forms by designers, makers, producers and suppliers.

TIPPING POINT MOMENT

Earlier this year I attended the Culture Shapers conference hosted by Groundswell, The Minderoo Foundation and The Hollywood Climate Summit. Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure how the invitation landed in my inbox, but I’ve chosen to interpret it as the universe sending me a call to action rather than an admin error. It was inspiring to see Supervising Art Director Maxine Dennett on a panel that would typically be led by producers and writers. As sustainable film advocate Blair Barnette puts it in her address to the Production Designers Gathering 2024: Designing for a Better Future panel: “As production designers are the first line of defence… we have a lot of influence over the story, so we can influence how things are done and what that narrative is.”

Catching Up: All Her Fault and the Circular Economy

If you missed the IPDW Sustainable Set Building panel from October 2025, it’s well worth going back to. Nell Hanson spoke with the team behind All Her Fault about their remarkable work toward a circular economy on set — including Frank Burridge (Main & Frank), Alex Cheesman (Albert/Picture Zero), Max Dennett (Supervising Art Director), Seth Aitken (Art Director) and Grant Thornton (Illusions Set Construction).

A few highlights from the conversation:

• Frank Burridge explored sustainable construction practices drawn from architecture, and trialled some exciting product prototypes for set construction — including Durra Panel, saveBOARD, hemp board and cardboard. As he put it: the way you design something doesn’t necessarily cost more, but it can lead to a much more considered end-of-life solution.
• Grant Thornton from Illusions Construction spoke about reducing virgin materials by using existing stock and hiring things like scaffolding — and designing for deconstruction outside the pressure of production deadlines.
• Alex Cheesman from Picture Zero gave a great overview of the Albert tool and encouraged everyone to get creative and harness the creativity of their teams.

The big takeaway? Thinking about end of life from day one means you’re designing with less waste and a plan. And that thinking can save money too, the production reportedly saved $18,000. Worth a conversation.

Quick Tips from the Panel

• Frank: Progress is more important than perfection. New materials come with costs and risks, but there are companies willing to share in the R&D. 
• Alex: Get creative! Harness the creativity of your team.
• Max: Apply the purchase hierarchy, it will make a real difference. Talk about it. Solutions will start coming. It feels good to know your work is not contributing to landfill, the crew had a lighter conscience when the environmental impact was minimised.
• Seth: Find your equivalent of a smart recycling solution.
• Grant: Be open to using what’s already been constructed.

Recent News

Congratulations to the All Her Fault team who just won the Sustainable Production Award (TV) in the Global Production Awards at Cannes!

Images: AFTRS graduate Rikki Clarke making her sustainable desks, process of the desks being assembled and finished desks above.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

A wonderful case study to share: AFTRS recent graduate Rikkili Clark developed her own sustainable furniture-making practice using paper pulp for her short film The Lounge. A brilliant example of student designers innovating from the ground up. 

I caught up with Rikki and she described her process of making the desks: 

MATERIALS: I did a lot of experiments with the paper pulp, originally starting with egg shells, coffee grinds, compostable glue and eucalyptus oil added, but in the end found that the most reliable material was made from just flour, recycled paper and salt was best, and this recipe was mixed with vermiculite on application for added texture.

I strived to make these completely recyclable, and used as much second-hand plywood as possible for the top and frames of the desk legs, however, some was purchased new as well.

The paper is 100% recycled, collected from places where the materials would not be accepted into regular recycling bins, for example, paper that was too small, or cardboard from catering boxes on film sets, or simply cardboard taken straight out of the bin.

While making 12 desks from scratch was a little time-consuming, overall I found the process to be unbelievably cost-effective, relatively simple, and gave me so the control I was looking for, all while maintaining sustainability goals.

UNTIL NEXT TIME..

A recurring thread through all these panels and in conversation with Nell Hanson is that art departments are not the problem. We’re passionate, we’re capable, we want to do this well and responsibly. But we can’t do it alone, or on the fly, or with half the budget and twice the deadline pressure. Production-wide planning from the outset isn’t just nice-to-have. It’s how it needs to work. We’ll keep saying it until it sticks.

Read: Nell Hanson’s article on the unseen environmental cost of a fleeting film set.

APDGreen is always keen to promote what our members are doing in this space, so please reach out and share what you’re doing. We would love to hear more about what new materials and technologies are being developed in your own practices, trialled on set or in workshops, and how support is being given (or not given) by producers, writers and directors.

Check out the regular sustainability  resources on the APDGreen pages here: APDGreen Conversations and get in touch about your projects via admin@apdg.org.au. 

Until next time — keep designing with the end in mind.  

 – Virginia Mesiti