composite // interview with Mark Hunter, Third Aesthetic
We go down under with the founder of Australia's leading real-estate CGI agency.
Whether he’s leading his collective team of creatives and driving his business forward, or curating audacious architectural April Fools jokes, Mark Hunter seems to never work with half measures.
Mark’s studio Third Aesthetic is highly regarded for their clean and crisp visual approach to image and brand creation, and also for their emphatic consistency in every project.
“The distinction between a good portrait or a great portrait lies in that last 1%” - Mark Hunter
Despite his very busy schedule running the studio, and while also orchestrating a move in office premises and cat-sitting for a friend, Mark was kind enough to take part in Composite. I hope that you’ll find his ideas and responses as thought provoking and insightful as I did:-
What is your name?
Mark Hunter
How many people work at Third Aesthetic?
We have 9 in-house creatives currently with a couple more hires in the pipeline as we speak. Our next level up will be 15 staff by the end of 2024 - fingers crossed!
Where are you based?
Sydney, Australia
How would you summarise your work in three words?
Consistent, engaging and photographic
What song or album have you been playing on repeat recently?
I have to be honest, I rarely listen to music right now. Currently, I dedicate my listening time to podcasts. Given the limited amount of time available to absorb new information, I like to make the most of it by learning something valuable. Right now my Spotify tuned to 'The Nature of Energy with Michael Saylor".
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
What keeps me motivated every day is the challenge of staying relevant. It's unfortunate but archviz (architectural visualization) is an industry of throw-away work. Not many clients or artists will remember your previous 10 projects, you could say you're only as good as your last 3 pieces of work. What gets me up on a morning is making sure every piece of art we create aligns with our own quality expectations - I like the challenge.
How did you get started in the industry?
My path to the archviz industry was unconventional compared to the usual route of obtaining architecture or archviz degrees. As a teenager, I was passionate about working in the computer games industry and spent much of my childhood constructing 3D environments using game engines like Valve's Hammer editor in the Source engine. I was also an enthusiastic artist, learning pencil drawing from my father, who was a talented pen and ink artist. Before university, I attended college to study graphic design, fine art, and photography. Later, I pursued a degree in Computer Games Environment Design, which I completed in 2009.
So how did you move from Games Design to Archviz?
Unfortunately 2009 wasn’t the best year to graduate and seek employment due to the global financial crash a year earlier - but I got my first official job in archviz as a junior artist at Pikcells, a 3D visualization studio specializing in KBB (kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms) in 2011. Pikcells was known for pushing the boundaries of image quality in the archviz field during that time, even before the advent of Corona renderer and in the early days of Vray. The level of realism Pikcells achieved was truly astonishing, and the techniques they employed to extract more realism from the engine were impressive. I look back on those days at Pikcells as the golden era, as we had a highly skilled team that collaborated closely to produce top-notch work. It was challenging and required late nights and dedication, but the learning experience was incredible.
It sound like you really benefited from your time at Pikcells?
I cherish the time I spent at Pikcells, as it laid the foundation for my career in archviz. Despite the challenges, including long hours and minimal financial rewards as a junior, I remained motivated by the learning opportunities. The company's commitment to achieving unparalleled realism and the camaraderie among the highly skilled team made it the best company I have ever worked for. I would highly recommend Pikcells to artists of all levels due to the valuable experiences and knowledge gained during my time there.
On to the present day, what would you say sets Third Aesthetic apart from others?
I think it’s our unwavering commitment to delivering consistent imagery, animation, and project management - when you see a video or image created by Third Aesthetic, it should evoke a sense of familiarity. We take great pride in hiring some of the most talented individuals in Australia, as it takes exceptional skills to produce outstanding work. We share 99% of the projects we undertake on social media, so every piece must be something we are truly proud to showcase. If any project falls short of our standards, we go back to the drawing board, rework it, and learn from the process. The distinction between a good portrait or a great portrait lies in that last 1%. This attention to detail, even within that last 1%, is where we believe the battle for the highest quality is waged, and it is appreciated by our most valued clients.
That level of consistency comes across in the interior styling of your work too, can you share a little about that?
Absolutely, I think it stems from our meticulous attention to interior styling in our imagery. Merely relying on photorealism and color grading is no longer sufficient. Anyone can replicate a grade or achieve realism these days, but capturing a unique eye for styling is not as easily replicated. Presenting convincing interior furnishings and layouts has become the new benchmark, requiring a deeper level of expertise beyond simply downloading a few attractive assets.
How do you balance artistic expression with technical accuracy?
Finding the right balance between fostering artists' creativity and ensuring accuracy can be challenging. On the one hand, it's essential not to compromise the company's identity with dull and uninteresting images but on the other hand, we’re creating assets that real people will be using as their reference for purchasing properties. Striking this balance requires constant creative oversight and teamwork to deliver quality and consistent work while still allowing room for creative expression within the framework of the established style and technical limitations.
Your team includes artists with a broad range of skills, so how do you all explore your projects more creatively?
Firstly, it's crucial to avoid turning your company into an ego-driven factory, where everyone views their work as purely personal. We are representatives of the company and its mission to deliver quality and consistent work and this takes deep collaboration from all members of the team. When we really desire to push the boundaries and embrace more creativity, we’ll often engage in in-house projects, like we did with "Ø House" / www.ohouse.com.au
How do you measure success in your work?
In my opinion, success can be measured in four areas:
1. Financial Stability: The financial aspect provides an overarching view of success. It's crucial to assess whether you're growing, stagnating, or if your fees are increasing or decreasing, which all impacts market share. Keeping a close eye on the financial health is a key indicator of success. Every studio will eventually rely on its own liquidity to sustain business during slower periods, so profitability is a vital focus.
2. Client Return Rate: A strong indication of doing things right is when clients return for future projects. Monitoring the success of the developments that we work on is a significant part of this process too. For instance, we’ll track their sales performance and over the past few years, we've been involved in many projects that have achieved local auction records, and we'd like to think that our contributions played a role. Property buyers rely heavily on visual cues, so our work often plays a critical role in their decision-making process.
3. New Client Onboarding: Attracting new clients based on the success of previous projects is a positive sign of snowballing success.
4. Employee Happiness: This is an essential measure of success - and it's crucial that we attract clients and projects that our team enjoys working on. While we've encountered challenging projects in the past, our primary goal is to attract clients who appreciate our consistent quality and trust us with their luxury projects. If our team is happy, it's much easier to keep attracting good artists to the team.
What's your philosophy on customer service / working with clients / dealing with feedback?
This is an important question, and I'm sure every studio approaches it slightly differently. While the client is undoubtedly the priority on every project, I wouldn't say that the client is always right or always wrong - it's probably a 50/50 balance.
The client, along with interior designers, architects, and branding agencies often have different visions of how things should look due to their unique styles and ideas. It's crucial to stand your ground if your business has a distinct style or quality standard. Producing work that doesn't represent your brand will likely discourage potential clients, as your reputation is only as good as your latest work. Setting a solid foundation of references at the beginning of a project is important.
How does that work practically for Third Aesthetic?
Starting the conversation with a clear creative direction and documenting sign-offs can provide a reference point if changes arise later. Clients sometimes underestimate the costs associated with running an Archviz studio, and assume that changes can be made quickly and at no additional cost. If clients appreciate that our artists’ time and expertise are valuable then they’ll also understand that out-of-scope design changes must be compensated for.
Having said that, the opposite is true if the client’s brief is totally ignored and the outcome isn't up to scratch. It’s a two way road and you have to own your failures and correct them to keep a good relationship. Having structured deliverables and predefined agreements on the number and scope of changes is important. If these expectations are established from the beginning, it avoids awkward situations later on. Ultimately, despite many stakeholders being involved, the client seeks our expertise and we must maintain our stance on what we believe works and what doesn't. It's easy to get upset over certain comments, but more often than not, issues can be resolved with a quick phone call, leaving everyone satisfied.
Finally, what advice would you give to someone new to our industry?
Be an open book until you've filled it with knowledge. Learn to model. You'd be surprised today how many artists can't model in Archvis. The wave of readily available assets online has made people lazy. We have a dedicated modelling team but being able to pick up some modelling comment here and there is invaluable as a 3D artist. Study photography, specifically composition!
Special thanks to Mark for his time, his insightful responses and practical advice.
I personally found his responses to be particularly thought provoking for my own studio practice, so it might take some time for them to sink in!
You can see more work from Third Aesthetic here, as well as on their Instagram.
If you’re still here, thanks for reading - this interview is part a series featuring artists, leaders and innovators in architectural visualisation and related fields. If you’d like to see more in the future, please hit subscribe and share the post with someone else who might be interested.
If you have any follow-up thoughts to share with Mark (or me), or if you have a question you’d love to be asked in future interviews, feel free to drop them in the comments below!
Thanks, and see you next time!
- JL