GoSee CREATIVES TO WATCH : LAURA DUNKELMANN, beauty director of TUSH & freelance creative director, on inspiration, visual seduction and the future of creative storytelling
GoSee CREATIVES TO WATCH is delighted to present Laura Dunkelmann – an exceptional creative who is definitely a cut above, famous for the visual concepts she develops and stories she tells – storytelling and visual strategies for various media channels, brands, events, and products. Her concepts for campaigns and videos as well as the visuals and copy she conceptualizes and produces are for both commercial and editorial use – for which, by the way, she also likes to use AI technologies.
Specialized in beauty, luxury, and culture, Laura provides consulting services for clients on product innovations, AI implementation, 360° content, and event concepts alongside trend analysis & forecasting. As the beauty director of TUSH MAGAZINE, she stages luxury brands in editorials, curates artists, and works with the big names of the business on innovative storytelling that finds a platform in print, digital, in social media or at the POS. Giving people and products a stage, beyond classic campaigns, and thrilling others with innovative storytelling is her forte.
An avid editor, Laura has conducted interviews with Pat McGrath, Francois Nars, Peter Philips, Guido Palau, Nadja Auermann or even Miss Piggy, and her work is repeatedly referred to by trend agencies such as WGSN and Peclers. She collaborates not only with beauty brands such as Chanel, Schwarzkopf, Nars, and Jean Paul Gaultier, but also with companies like Telekom or Edding.
GoSee : You build visionary concepts for beauty brands and are the beauty director of TUSH MAGAZINE. Please tell us a little more about yourself.
Laura : I want to inspire – sometimes with visuals, at others with words, sometimes encouraging to buy, but also simply on a creative level. Most of the time, I am busy working on visual concepts: like, how can I show a lipstick in a completely new way? A way that makes you fancy the product but also feel entertained or inspired by the imagery. Which artists can bring my ideas to life? What photographer will underscore the style? How to start the story on social media, and what makes sense activation-wise? It’s not always only about a product. Sometimes, it’s about people (like influencers), or services (hairdressing), places (beauty salons) or agencies, who all want to position themselves in a modern way. That’s who I develop concepts for. When still and motion concepts are realized, I am usually also part of the process, which enables me to recommend teams, and I’m also on set to check if everything is going the way it’s supposed to – or even better!
Plus, you also write about fashion and beauty with articles published in magazines such as WWD Japan, Berliner Zeitung and Stylist France? My journalistic writing is meanwhile few and far between. If at all, I write about topics or people that are very close to my heart, and besides TUSH, only for international or special publications. Some of my favorite topics for which are, of course, fragrances and perfumes – and preferably with a psychological twist.
What’s been on your mind lately? As long as I can remember, I have been looking for answers to two questions : What is new? What is beautiful? I want to thrill people and make life more beautiful – and that in the most literal sense. Of course, there’s always also a business side to it, but I believe that inspiration is a necessity, particularly in the beauty industry. It’s really almost always about a feeling – and conveying that feeling in the most exciting way possible; that is my job. I am a very curious person and always on the lookout for a story that hasn’t been told yet.
What would you say is the role of AI in the creative industry at the moment, and how do you make it part of your creative process? For my work, AI is not a replacement but a piece of the puzzle for a campaign or editorial in the pipeline. I mainly generate images to integrate into my concepts and use for briefings. That way, artists and clients both know exactly what I am talking about – and I can already fine-tune the moods accordingly. It is incredibly helpful, especially if I am suggesting something nobody has ever seen before – and for which I even have a hard time imagining everything down to the last detail.
Sometimes I use AI simply for brainstorming, if I have a rough idea and would like to see where I can go with it. Small tests like that are risk-free, and you don’t even need a budget. I show loads of these AI images on social media, as well as the ones I develop for mood boards. My big hope is that photographers and makeup artists will feel inspired by them and bring it all to life. I haven’t replaced any ‘real’ work with AI so far; I would even go so far as to say that AI has helped me to be even more productive because my concepts have become so much more precise.
Other than that, I use various AI tools for efficiency: for transcribing, translating simple texts, for instance, or simultaneously translating interviews.
There are constantly new makeup trends and developments. What’s so inspiring for you about beauty, luxury and culture, and why doesn’t your job ever get boring? The beauty business, in particular, is so multifaceted: you have makeup with its artistic side; care is almost medicinal even; body and hair are often influenced culturally; and fragrances only work on an emotional level… The list of inspirations goes on and on in the ever-evolving world of aesthetics and technology, so I can basically pick a particular facet that interests me at any given time. Like I said, it is extremely multifaceted. Besides, beauty is very democratic: no matter how old you are, how tall or short, chubby or skinny, rich or poor… anyone can put on lipstick to try it out and wipe it back off if need be. There are much less restrictions than in fashion where you have to have a certain body type or amount of money to go with a trend.
How does your role as beauty and editorial director of TUSH magazine influence the approach you take to collaborations and other projects? And what do you mean when you say that it’s important to you to have a voice? I am very lucky to work with such really great clients who actually want an editorial and not only a recap of their campaigns. We are allowed to draw messages or products into the TUSH universe and reimagine them – after all, a campaign is only one point of view, and we add our editorial side to it. Which is then often less attention-grabbing by design, yet still very effective for the image and reputation of the brand or product. It’s almost like it opens up an additional creative level – and, as beauty and editorial director, I can tell the story again from a different perspective.
What trends or developments do you see down the road in the creative industry, particularly in the area of beauty, your stomping ground? And what are you working on at the moment? Mental health is a big thing; in the context of products, the industry in general and, of course, directly in terms of working conditions. Beauty for both inside and out more or less. Loyalty is also a topic I find very fascinating… How will brands keep their customers coming back in the future? A lot is going to happen in that area, and for me it’s super exciting to see all the possibilities for development there are.
I also see a lot of potential still in beauty retail, if you take Seoul, for instance, and how makeup is sold there – that is entertainment with super sophisticated technology. The things that I have seen in Seoul will definitely flow into my upcoming projects. And there’s always perfume, personally my favorite topic. I just went to Art Basel – art always has an inspiring effect on me – and did a story on who was wearing whose perfumes at the event (tushmagazine.com/die-parfums-der-art-basel/). Plus, I’m busy preparing my own perfume Substack that I plan on launching in late August.
We look forward to seeing what seductive visuals and sweet temptations Laura has in store for us from the beauty world – and, as always, we will keep you posted. We present you a selection of her work here on GoSee, and more is available via dnklmnn.wordpress.com.
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