| In Creative Minds, we ask APAC creatives a long list of questions, from serious to silly, and ask them to pick 11 to answer. (Why 11? Just because.) Want to be featured? |
Name: Hanna Grant
Origin: Tokyo, Japan
Places lives/worked: Auckland, New Zealand; Sydney, Australia
Pronouns: She/her
CV:
- Art Director, Leo Sydney, Australia (Apr 2025 – present)
- Art Director, Droga5, Auckland, New Zealand (Oct 2023 – Mar 2025)
- Freelance Art Director, Colenso BBDO & Augusto, Auckland, New Zealand (Nov 2022 – Jun 2023)
- Junior Art Director, DDB, Auckland, New Zealand (Jan 2021 – Oct 2022)
1. How did you end up being a creative?
I started my career in advertising on the media side, beginning as an account executive. I loved agency life and all the incredible people I met along the way, but I always knew media wasn't really for me. Whenever creative work landed in my inbox for media placements, I couldn't wait to open it. Eventually, I realised that was the part of the process I wanted to be doing — that's where the excitement and inspiration was. I then went on to do my postgraduate diploma at MDS Ad School in Auckland, coming out of it with a job at DDB NZ. And here we are.
2. What's your favourite piece of work in your portfolio?
Vogel's Certified Toasters or the NEON billboard for Outlander.
3. What's your favourite piece of work created by someone else?
Kathmandu's Summer Never Sleeps resonates with me because it's such a perfect example of feeling-first storytelling. It's not just about the product — it's about the world the product lets you create and step into. It's atmospheric, beautifully crafted and so wonderfully weird. It's exactly the kind of work I'm always drawn to.
4. What/who are your key creative influences?
David Lynch. I love the way he was so unapologetically himself, creating an entire universe out of his imagination and inviting us to step inside.
5. What kind of student were you?
Inquisitive and curious. Also incredibly talkative and social, which often got me moved to the back of the class.
6. What's on your bucket list?
Going on a polar bear expedition in Hudson Bay, Canada. I'm absolutely obsessed with bears.
7. Who do you most admire?
My dad — he came from a tough beginning and gave me the best life he possibly could. He's also where I get my creativity and my taste in film and music.
8. Who’s on your dream dinner guest list (alive or dead)?
Joan Didion, David Lynch, and my grandpa.
9. What career did you think you'd have when you were a kid?
I really wanted to be a teacher, mainly so I could use whiteboard markers and draw on the board.
10. Do you work best under pressure or when things are calm?
Under pressure. I'm a severe procrastinator, so I need a deadline to work towards.
11. Tell us about an artist (any medium) that we've never probably heard of.
Ragnar Kjartansson. He's an Icelandic artist and musician whose works are normally durational and performance-based, striking a balance between humour and sadness. I saw one of his exhibitions at the Louisiana Museum in Denmark in 2023, and it still sticks with me—mainly The Visitors and A Lot of Sorrow.
In The Visitors, he gathers his musician friends for a 64-minute, single-take performance inside an old house in upstate New York. Each musician plays alone in a separate room, creating a portrait of individual creativity that slowly merges into a shared emotional experience. I ended up staying in that room for well over an hour.
A Lot of Sorrow is both a music video and an extended concert film in which The National perform "Sorrow" on repeat for six hours. As exhaustion sets in, the song subtly shifts—still familiar, but increasingly raw. It's a powerful exploration of repetition and emotion.
Source: Campaign Asia-Pacific
