MEET OUR SLEEP SQUAD.
NADIA KOOLINA
Studio Lead & Creative Producer
Nadia is a creative producer with a technical backbone and a sociological mind—shaping stories as thoughtfully as she shapes the teams behind them. Raised in Singapore, shaped by New York City, and now rooted in New Zealand, she holds a Master’s in VFX and Animation, and a Bachelor’s from Dartmouth College in the United States. With experience across animation, product management, and tech, Nadia approaches storytelling through the lens of systems thinking and cross-cultural empathy.
She builds creative environments where artists feel safe to explore, take risks, and thrive—balancing emotional intuition with structural clarity. Her work is grounded in the belief that the stories we tell, and how we tell them, shape who we are and how we move through the world.
She cut her teeth at BuzzFeed Animation Lab, where speed met experimentation—and later went on to produce Bound, an internationally award-winning short film made during her Master’s. Now, she’s focused on building slower, deeper creative spaces that honour process, emotion, and intention.
When not producing, you’ll find Nadia analysing the emotional architecture of theme parks, sending long voice notes like messages in a bottle to friends overseas, or earnestly comparing the prolific landscape of alt milks.
HAOJUN HUANG
Creative Director
Jun is an animation director, art director, and multidisciplinary artist who crafts stories with emotional precision and architectural care. With roots in both spatial and animated design, Jun’s practice weaves together world-building, setcraft, and poetic image-making across mediums.
He’s worked on productions like Power Rangers, large-scale installations for Bilibili China, and fine art collaborations such as Raised Up Sky by Joseph Michael. His latest animated short, End of Summer—a visual memoir exploring cultural identity and personal memory—is being featured at SIGGRAPH 2025.
Jun holds a Master of Design Technology and a Bachelor of Spatial Design. As a lecturer, he champions process as a way of thinking—inviting artists to explore animation as a site of discovery, honesty, and evolution.
Driven by intensity and a restless curiosity, Jun is always redefining what “taste” means in a changing world—honing his eye through discipline, obsession, and joy.
You’ll likely find him pounding pavement around Wellington’s windy bays, working on a sprawling mural that spans his bedroom wall, or folding his love for experimental fashion into yet another unexpected creative form.
EUNIE HWANG
Design System Architect
Eunie (short for Yoonseo) is a storyteller at heart and a visual designer by nature—fluent in the language of feeling and form. She understood she was a designer and an artist before she was even ten years old. With a background in Fine Design from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, she honed her skills in brand and web design across sectors like e-commerce and health—where clarity, trust, and care are essential. That precision now feeds her work in animation, where she distills complex emotions into visual rhythms that resonate.
Her transition from design to animation has made her a rare creative hybrid—someone who sees structure and softness at once. With a Master’s in VFX and Animation, she works fluidly across Houdini, After Effects, and 3D pipelines, building FX and environments that are not just beautiful, but narratively alive.
Eunie holds herself to an extraordinarily high standard—with an immense work ethic and profound determination. Whether she’s sketching storyboards or voicing characters like Oliver, the warm-hearted sidekick in CG short Bound, she brings depth, sincerity, and unmistakable sparkle to every part of the process.
Friends describe her as courageous, dependable, and quietly hilarious. Outside of production, you’ll often find her exploring Wellington’s café scene, rolling up a fresh batch of kimbap, or giving La La Land another well-deserved watch.
MASON GARNER
Character Design Lead
Mason is a Wellington-based animator and director with a knack for stylised storytelling and characters you can’t help but love. His roots are in 2D—drawn in by the emotional weight and clarity of hand-drawn storytelling—but he’s since become a powerhouse in 3D, with a particular flair for stylised animation.
A gifted multi-disciplinary artist, Mason can take a character from sketch to screen—designing, modeling, rigging, and animating them with personality and precision. His designs are equal parts charm and craftsmanship—characters that feel alive before they’ve even blinked. His work is marked by bold colour palettes, expressive poses, and emotional beats that land with charm and clarity.
Most recently, Mason directed Bound, a CG short that has since become an internationally award-winning film—a heartfelt, visually rich exploration of connection and letting go.
When he’s not animating, you’ll probably catch him baking post-midnight brownies with friends, topping up a coffee with caramel, or casually sketching up his next unforgettable character design on the train home, like it’s no big deal (it always is).
ANDREW TIAN
Asset & Look Dev Lead
Andrew Tian is a materials and look dev artist with an extrordinary talent for texture, light, and mood—and a soft spot for painterly storytelling. With a background in traditional painting and a Master of Design Technology from Victoria University of Wellington, he brings classic art fundamentals into every digital scene he touches.
Andrew specialises in materials and look development, blending realism with painterly stylisation to support immersive storytelling. Whether he’s crafting shaders in Substance Painter, lighting moody scenes in Blender, or building simulations in Houdini, Andrew thrives in the iterative process—tweaking, refining, and pushing visuals to be just a little more believable and magical.
As Art Director for The Catch, he helped shape a semi-realistic, industrial world laced with emotional undercurrents. His approach is grounded in collaborative curiosity and a commitment to storytelling that’s both cohesive and visually ambitious. Humble, driven, and genuinely a joy to work with—Andrew is the kind of teammate who makes the whole project stronger.
When he’s not fine-tuning surface detail, Andrew’s usually hitting the gym, building intricate wooden boat models, or scheming new ways to bring the painterly brilliance of Klaus into the 3D viewport.
JOEL COOPER
Sound & Composition Lead
Joel Cooper is the kind of composer who doesn’t just raise the bar—he makes you want to meet him up there, too. A graduate of both a Bachelor’s and Master’s in film scoring, Joel approaches composition with both technical mastery and deep emotional insight.
He doesn’t just write to picture—he dreams with the team. From early development to final mix, Joel's scores often become a guiding thread through the creative process, helping collaborators discover the emotional heart of their stories. His melodies feel timeless and enchanted, grounding narratives while giving them space to breathe and soar.
His work-in-progress demos have sparked spontaneous dance breaks, and his teammates frequently find his themes stuck in their heads long after wrap. But what truly makes Joel unforgettable is his presence in the room: humble, warm, generous, and endlessly collaborative. Simply put, Joel is a joy to work with, and having him on a project doesn’t just elevate the music—it elevates the entire production.
In his spare time, you’ll catch him building lore for his home brew world building podcast, scoring his favourite sci-fi books just for fun, or landing a clean volleyball spike before dinner.