crush+lab: Directing Team
crush+lab is a directing team comprising Director and co-founder David Solomini, Producer Alexander Kafi and Creative Director/Stylist Paula Tabalipa. The studio’s strengths include developing multi-platform content and strategy, providing bespoke digital and on-air solutions, and seamlessly bridging the gap between production, marketing, branding, advertising and distribution, in unique, beautiful, successful ways.
Their combined reel includes fashion films, television and branded content, uniform collaborations or commercials for MTV, HBO, FX, CW, NBC, FOX, CBS, A&E, BRAVO, Discovery, National Geographic, Disney, Animal Planet, MAC Cosmetics, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Converse, American Eagle Outfitters, Joe’s Jeans, Topshop, Blank NYC, Epitaph Records, Absolut, Ford, Wells Fargo, Fidelity, Hasbro, Verizon, Gillette, Hyundai, Sigur Rós, EA Sports and GQ, Glamour, J’ampe, Flaunt, Bullett, Schön! and WOLF magazines.
An expert in multiple disciplines capable of writing, developing content and show format, directing single and multiple cameras, conducting talent interviews, and guiding projects through post-production and final delivery, David got his start as a junior director on Real World New Orleans in 1998. A student of the world, David constantly strives for perfection in his creations. Never satisfied, always raising the bar – whether it be in the final visual on the screen, or creating the most harmonious, efficient work environment. His love is equally split between social awareness and human causes, and an endless pursuit in the creation and embodiment of beauty.
Alex, who has been with crush+lab since 2010, is a globe-trotting talent who also spent time at Rezonant Productions, Ivan Kane’s Café Was, Catalog Records and One Little Indian Records. He learned his craft at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, LCCM, Julliard, and CalArts. He received a thorough education on life from numerous travels in his youth, including a two-week solo journey through Egypt at 18 and nine months touring around Japan at 19.
Born and raised in Brazil, Paula is a California transplant who has studied fashion, style and theater from a very young age, informing her strong costume design sensibilities. She honed her understanding of brand identity, branding and creative direction at Tiffany & Co., Gucci and Saks Fifth Avenue, styling, consulting and creative directing fashion editorials, commercials, print advertisements and fashion films before joining crush+lab at its 2010 founding. A world traveler and eager adopter of new languages, Paula is as passionate about fundraising for African wells as she is about her work in the studio.
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About East Pleasant:
East Pleasant, an Emmy Award-winning production company founded in 2004, is a group of creative individuals layered in years of expertise on both the agency and production sides of the advertising industry. The studio is a highly flexible entity, able to handle traditional or nontraditional TV commercials, films, web projects, episodic TV, music videos and documentaries of any scope, perfectly tailored to its clients’ needs.
Company principals – which include EP Michelle Cuccuini Hicks and Directors/Founders Damien Drake, Stash Slionski, Xander Strohm, and David Weinstein – oversee a diverse, globetrotting team of producers, directors and editors who focus on shooting beautiful imagery that tells relevant stories. This group has produced work for some of the most recognizable brands in the world – Nissan, Nokia, Nike, Kenmore, Clinique – while teaming with top agencies Grey, W+K, Ogilvy, KPS+P, Anomaly and Publicis, to name a few.