Robot Image Architect

I direct how machines are seen.

Launch films, campaign worlds and concept films for robots entering public life.

A woman in purple denim seated beside a humanoid robot dressed in matching purple denim on a tram — Public presence / visual study

01

The problem

A robot arrives as a product. People meet it as a character.

The autonomy is usually months behind the launch date. The footage that exists looks like a lab, and the campaign ships anyway. There is nothing to point a camera at. That is where I come in.

A stylist in pale pink pinning a jacket onto a humanoid robot outside a hotel entrance — The character is decided before anyone points a camera at it.

02

Selected studies

Three propositions for how a machine can be read in public.

Three robot mannequins in lilac, red and orange printed denim standing with Irina Raicu in blue denim on the red carpet of a vintage cinema lobby — A robot at the premiere

Character study

A humanoid robot in purple denim riding a tram beside a passenger wearing headphones — The public commute

World study

Silver humanoid robot posed as a fashion portrait — Silver presence

Image study

03

What I make

Three ways this arrives as work, and one that does not wait for a client.

01

Launch Film

The hero film for a reveal, a first shipment, a keynote. Concept, world, sixty to ninety seconds, cutdowns and key art.

A robot mannequin in a burgundy waistcoat and trousers standing beside Irina Raicu in a matching burgundy gown against a plain studio backdrop

02

Campaign World

The image system around the film. One world, one character, held across every format and market.

Irina Raicu and a robot mannequin in matching lilac printed tailoring walking a red carpet in a gilded theatre foyer

03

Concept Film

A short film to put the idea in front of a board or an investor, before the campaign budget exists.

Irina Raicu seated at a stone chess table in a city square opposite a grey humanoid figure in a tailored suit, pedestrians passing behind

04

Studies on real machines

Self-initiated work on production robots, unaffiliated. I do not show a platform doing anything it cannot do.

Irina Raicu and a robot mannequin in patterned coats standing at a harbour fish market with a crowd and coloured wooden houses behind

04

The discipline

Recognition depends on nothing drifting. Every frame runs through a production system I built, where the character, the wardrobe rule and the world are held as structured data instead of remembered shot by shot.

Step 01

The character is fixed

One build, one surface, one set of proportions, carried through every frame.

A woman and a white mannequin seated together in a laundromat, both in pale blue — Laundromat

A white suited mannequin standing beside a woman seated on a hay bale — Hay field

A woman and a mannequin at a desert poolside in matching mint prints — Desert pool

Step 02

The wardrobe is a rule, not a costume

Both figures wear the same material in the same scene. The rule is what makes them read as a pair rather than a person and a prop.

A woman and a mannequin on pink steps in matching blue printed denim — Matching print

A woman and a mannequin in matching green print in a papered corridor — Matching print

A woman and a mannequin beside wine barrels in matching denim — Matching denim

Step 03

Only the world changes

Location, light and social setting move. The character and the rule do not. That is what turns separate images into one series.

A woman and a mannequin with a motorcycle on a red desert road — Desert road

A mannequin standing over a woman lying on white salt flats — Salt flats

A woman and a mannequin in a lit supermarket aisle — Supermarket

Step 04

Then it becomes a film

The same character and the same rule, carried into a sequence that holds for ninety seconds.

Motion / matching print

Motion / desert pool

Motion / river

05

One character, thirty worlds.

The same figure, carried across continents, wardrobes and social settings. Nothing about it is redrawn between frames. That is the whole discipline, demonstrated.

Two figures walking a red earth road between baobab trees, one pushing a bicycle — Madagascar / travelling series

A pair in printed dress and jacket against a blue washed wall as doves fly up — Chefchaouen / travelling series

Two figures crossing an orange dune under a hard sun — Namib / travelling series

A pair on banded red and ochre rock, one crouched to the ground — Vinicunca / travelling series

Two figures in denim standing in marsh grass with white horses behind them — Camargue / travelling series

A pair in orange and green sculptural coats on a crowded stone staircase — Opera steps / travelling series

Two figures seated on the roof of a safari vehicle above a valley — Safari / travelling series

A figure photographs another standing on a cliff above the ocean — Paracas / travelling series

A pair in denim tailoring walking a promenade under striped awnings — Riviera / travelling series

Two figures on terraced hillside steps in the Andes — Sacred Valley / travelling series

A pair in pale layered dresses at the edge of a salt lake — Salt lake / travelling series

Two figures seated with oranges against a green shuttered wall — Orange grove / travelling series

A pair standing in steam beside a hot spring, both in cream — Hot springs / travelling series

Two figures in red and printed coats on black volcanic rock by the sea — Tidal pools / travelling series

A pair seated on a picnic blanket in long grass with a city skyline behind — London / travelling series

A figure in cream reclines in grass beside a standing companion — Wildflowers / travelling series

Two figures in a bright supermarket aisle holding packets — Supermarket / travelling series

A pair beside a lit freezer cabinet, one holding flowers — Frozen aisle / travelling series

A figure in a printed gown with arms raised above a blue painted town — Blue city / travelling series

A figure serves lemons at a laid table to a seated companion — Lunch service / travelling series

06

Commission the work

Bring me the moment and the date.

I work with a small team and produce the films and the images myself. Engineering, product design and brand strategy stay with your people.

01

Reveal

The first time the machine is seen by people who do not work on it.
02

Rollout

Every market, format and season after the reveal.
03

Public moment

Appearances, activations and exhibitions where people meet it in person.

What arrives

The scope follows the public moment. The creative system is clear enough for a production partner, agency or internal team to execute.

01

Concept and world
02

Treatment
03

The film, sixty to ninety seconds
04

Cutdowns and vertical versions
05

Key art

A robot mannequin styled for a Californian roadside setting

Humanoid robot standing on an open country road

A robot mannequin photographed on location in Spain

Irina Raicu in a pale pink coat adjusting the collar of a robot mannequin in matching pink tailoring on a palm-lined street

07

Creative lead

Irina Raicu works at the intersection of fashion, artificial intelligence and public storytelling.

A creative director and AI researcher, Irina brings technical fluency to image-making. She brings a fashion point of view to emerging machines.

Doctorate in AI, on deep learning in the financial-banking domain
Tommy Hilfiger AI Fashion Prize, 2023
Work presented at CVPR Art Gallery
Speaker at Cannes Lions, Harvard and London College of Fashion

08

FAQs

Do you build or engineer the robot?

No. I direct how it is seen: the film, the images, the world around it.

Do you work on real robots?

Yes. Some studies are made on production platforms I have access to, self-initiated and unaffiliated. Commissioned work runs on the client's own platform.

Who produces the work?

I do, with a small team, on my own production system. Crew, fabrication, travel and usage are scoped separately when a shoot is involved.

Can you work alongside our existing partners?

Yes. Your technical, brand and production partners get one coherent system to execute.

Motion