Puppets on the Move

It seems there’s no stopping the puppets emanating from Providence’s Big Nazo Lab, a creature-making studio dreamed up by FAV alum and faculty member Erminio Pinque 83 IL. 

The founder of the internationally-known puppet troupe just returned from Turin, Italy, where he hosted a creature-making workshop at the VIEW Conference, a forum for graphic designers, animators and special effects professionals. There, Pinque demonstrated how the camera-ready (and easy-to-wear) Big Nazo costumes are influencing new media and filmmakers.

For instance, two puppets made by RISD students star in a music video shot for The Stepkids’ latest single Sweet Salvation. In the short, Pinque’s unearthly monsters bob, weave and eat human limbs while a scruffy frontman croons in the background.

Big Nazo is lending some of its imagination to the medical field, too. According to the Providence Journal, the puppet-designers made a custom “girth suit” to help train staff how to move patients safely.

What will Big Nazo’s spindly fingers get into next? We’re excited to find out!