Studio MinaLima has unveiled a new collection of graphic art prints for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore at House of MinaLima in London.
With less than a week to go before Muggles re-enter the Wizarding World, BritAsia TV visited the House of MinaLima exhibit, for a first look at Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima’s latest artwork for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
Extending the Parisian Art Nouveau aesthetic of the previous FB films, the third instalment presented graphic design duo, MinaLima with the opportunity to create a distinct Art Deco style, which capturing the artistic movement of its time. Much historical research and experimentation with techniques were employed — from sourcing original patterns and papers to scanning historical typefaces and peculiar surfaces to capture and reconstruct the essence and style of the late 1930s.
Wizarding World fans will travel the world and experience several other magical cultures on screen, through the vividly coloured artwork created by MinaLima. An integral part of the film’s visual storytelling is the celebration of international magical realms through the creation of very distinct identities for the Ministry of Magic in Germany, as well as pivotal characters from Brazil and China. These insignias will be presented to fans as limited-edition prints at House of MinaLima.
A visual highlight is the invention – in close collaboration with the wider film production team – of the Magisterial Chamber of Ancient Wizardry, a hideaway of the highest seat of the magical world in Bhutan. Fans will be able to pore over the symbols and motifs invented by MinaLima, with an aesthetic that references a typical Himalayan decorative vernacular.
Prints on display at House of MinaLima include the highly-anticipated emblem of the Dumbledore family, featuring the majestic phoenix, the vibrant collection of 10 wizarding books created for Professor Lally, and the gilded front cover of the second edition of Newt Scamander’s best-selling book ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’. Also on display are prints featuring graphics created for the first magical train, The Great Wizarding Express, seen in the Fantastic Beasts series; a brand-new German newspaper Die Silberne Fledermaus; and the first-ever Wanted poster for arch- villain Gellert Grindelwald.
Speaking exclusively to Mina and Lima at the exhibit, the graphic design duo discussed the inspiration behind the latest pieces and their processes for each film.
“The process for each film is very similar,” Mina says. “Whether it’s a period film, a fantasy film or one that’s set in the Victorian times, research in those first instances – our relationship with books, archives, libraries, museums – where ever we can pull and draw inspiration from [informs the art].
“If we know we need to design the German Ministry of Magic insignia [for example] it would then rolled out to use onto the architecture on the fabric, floor designs and various uses for that insignia, but it’s a sort of identity of the Ministry.
“The first thing we’ll do is look at the style from the Art Deco period because we know the German design period of the 30’s is so striking and the architecture that was used in the film for the Ministry is so striking, so those bits start to inform the work.”
Speaking about some of the pieces audiences should pay particular attention to in the latest instalment, Lima prefaces the “most amazing” thing about FB firstly is that we are “always travelling, always going to different countries and introducing new Ministries.”
“Soon we are going to have the United Nations of the Wizarding World and all of the Ministries being represented. But I think the two main things with this film are the support graphics we had to do for the campaign. And an object that is in the Room of Requirement,” Lima teases.
Reflecting on her first collaboration with Harry Potter creatives over two decades ago, Mina also reveals she knew “nothing about” Potter before starting work on the franchise. But having previously worked the film’s award-winning production designer, Stuart Craig on other films, he was the reason Lima lent her artistic craft to the Wizarding World.
“I had a working relationship with [Craig] and admired him and still do so much. He was a mentor and teacher, great collaborator… He’s our Dumbledore,” Mina says.
The graphic art prints are available to view now at House of MinaLima in Soho, London. All MinaLima designs are available internationally from minalima.com.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is in cinemas on Friday 8 April, 2022.
