When the Houses of Parliament were suddenly aglow with a huge projected tribute to our NHS workers in 2020, it was the idea of Stuart Harris and his creative projection company Motion Mapping. He calls it ‘guerilla projection’: turn up with a van and generator, project a huge image on an iconic building, then disappear into the night! 

He did the same at Ipswich Hospital in 2020, with social media spreading the message virally (no irony) worldwide.  So successful was that charitable projection, it won national press coverage and an appearance on BBC’s The One Show.  Stuart gave the graphics to other events projection companies to use free of charge at other hospitals. With all events cancelled and no business, it gave them a mission to spread appreciation of healthcare professionals. 

Based at Ipswich’s Masterlord Office Village, his company works with industry leaders from Warner Bros Tours at Leavesden Studios to Lancôme, English Heritage to Lamborghini, Colchester Castle to Nestlé’s Extreme ice-cream, Sony to Apple.  It’s a huge market for Stuart’s creativity and technical know-how, working collaboratively with clients to create unique experiences.  

For Nestlé’s new ice-cream brand, Extreme, his team used their ‘guerilla’ experience at 4 locations across London, using Motion Mappings’ powerful 30,000 and 15,000 lumen Epson projectors. For Warner Bros, he’s bringing the huge Hogwarts Castle model to life with a projected fireworks display: you’ll have to take the tour to see it!

‘I love to see people’s reaction to a projection, especially in an unexpected location,’ says Stuart.

One of those unexpected locations is iconic Stonehenge, where English Heritage called in Motion Mapping to project images on the 5,000-year-old stones when star DJ Paul Oakenfold became the first artist to perform there live.

Motion Mapping started small by projecting images on wedding cakes, created by Stuart’s wife Angie, named as one of the Top 50 cake designers in the UK.  Stuart turns her creative cakes interactive as guests gather round, enthralled. 

The business has grown in size and ambition, not only with interactive and immersive video projection mapping for buildings and events, but by creating original content, such as a new interactive table for a retail innovation with Hotter Shoes.

With offices, a demonstration room and technical area on Gamma Terrace at Masterlord Office Village, location was key when Stuart was looking for a base : ‘There are great transport links and a strong business community here.  We’re travelling everywhere, being so close to the A12 is a real bonus.’ 

For more information:  motionmapping.co.uk or follow what’s new on social media