Anything is possible through collaboration—but how does one find the right people for the project? Hugo & Marie co-founders, Mario Hugo Gonzalez and Jennifer Marie Sims shared their experience of starting and operating an artist representation and creative agency during the AIGA/NY Design + Representation: Hugo & Marie talk which took place at the Museum of Art + Design on September 2, 2010.

“There’s no better way to learn than just to do,” said Gonzalez on the topic of starting the consultancy in early 2008. Over the past two years, Hugo & Marie signed nine different artists based in the US as well as in Europe. The roster includes artists Deanne Cheuk, Studio Newwork, Jules Julien, and several others. The vision of Hugo & Marie is to maintain a small and focused team of artists with a strong sense of direction, story-telling narrative, and a sincere attention to typographic detail.

During the hour-long presentation, Gonzalez and Sims showed the work of their represented artists and discussed the challenges and successes of their collaborative projects.

The astounding range of personal and commercial work included laser cut pieces for exhibitions, intricate illustrations, music packaging, video installations, textile design, printed fashion look-books, interactive design and much more. A memorable project was a collaboration with a fashion label to create 10 pairs of Swarowski-encrusted gloves for Fashion Week 2009.

Next, one of the represented artists, illustrator Micah Lidberg, joined the pair on stage to share his thoughts on co-creation. Lidberg, a recent graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, said that being signed by Hugo & Marie tremendously helped him make the difficult transition from a student to an industry professional.

The event concluded with a Q&A from the audience.

So what’s next for Hugo & Marie? “In the future, we would love to represent photographers,” said Sims.

For more information on Hugo & Marie, visit http://www.hugoandmarie.com

To view event details, visit http://2006.aigany.org/events/details/11C1/

Photos by Irina Lee.

“Design +” is an ongoing series that will examine the process of co-creation. It is one part of the larger Members Series and so caters to members’ concerns for content, networking and price.

To view additional photos, please visit our Flickr photostream. We encourage our members to contribute their photos to the AIGA New York Flickr group.