Juan R Lage x Kenzo

Juan R Lage x Kenzo

Related work

Juan mixes tenderness and trippiness in KENZO’s animated love story

When KENZO came knocking with the idea to continue the whimsical animated universe from their LUCKY ME collection, Juan was all in.

This second brief, a beautiful, trippy romance. Meet Quique, a tiger with a soft spot for Kali, the rabbit. Their love story doesn’t just stop at stolen glances - it blossoms into a family of three little ones, each carrying the traits of both parents. 

The catch? This had to be a one-shot animation - no cuts, no breaks. Just a seamless visual waltz from start to finish.

Juan R Lage

“I feel the dreamlike tone, the narrative built through transformation, and the characters’ emotional connections all came through just as I envisioned.”

Those transitions became the artist’s signature - fluid, expressive, and tinged with that dreamlike quality that makes the piece feel almost like a moving memory. The challenge was balancing KENZO’s detailed character designs with the demands of fluid animation, all while keeping the tenderness of the story intact.

The results speak for themselves a rich, mysterious nostalgic tone; delicate emotional beats; and a visual rhythm that makes the viewer feel like they’ve stepped into another world. The final piece is more than just an animation. It’s a love story told in a single breath - one that flows, transforms, and lingers long after it ends.

Creative Lead: Julien Gaullet
Clean-up Artist: Juli Soloaga
Production: The Different Folk
Client: Kenzo

Juan R Lage

“I’m proud we kept the one-shot structure. It’s full of camera shifts and intricate transformations, but we didn’t lose any detail. Everything - the atmosphere, the characters’ connections, the dreamlike flow - came out exactly as I’d hoped.”