# La Llama > An illustrated, animated restaurant sequence for La Llama, a short film celebrating Spanish design and architecture. Canonical page: [La Llama]() Project ID: la\_llama Year: 2026 Role: Illustrator, Designer, Houdini Artist I illustrated and designed the Il Giardinetto setting, and rigged, animated, rendered and composited its chair sequence in Houdini. Work: [La Llama]() (2026) Production: [The Post Office]() Client: [ICEX]() *La Llama* (*The Flame*) is an animated short film celebrating Spanish design and architecture, directed by Turbo, the duo of Pau López and Gerardo del Hierro. White Horse and Apartamento produced it for ICEX's *Where Talent Ignites* campaign, with animation by The Post Office and character design by Jaime Hayon. ## Il Giardinetto [Il Giardinetto]() is an Italian restaurant and a Barcelona design landmark. Photographer Leopoldo Pomés opened it in 1974, commissioning architects Federico Correa and Alfonso Milá to create an interior inspired by the chestnut gardens of southern France. The design won the FAD Interior Design Award that same year, and the restaurant became a meeting place for the city's artists, architects and designers. [The restaurant sequence]() (The Post Office / White Horse / Apartamento / ICEX) The restaurant’s chairs become animated performers, with their shapes and movement driving the scene. [The character and chair emerge from the restaurant into the next sequence.]() (Gergely Wootsch and Martí Sawe / ICEX) ## Trailer [Official trailer]() (The Post Office / White Horse / Apartamento / ICEX) ## The Complete Film [La Llama — complete film]() (The Post Office / White Horse / Apartamento / ICEX) A character moves through a house that keeps changing, passing through settings drawn from Spanish design and architecture. The campaign presented the film in Cannes on May 17, 2026. Later coverage in *shots* singled out the animated chairs, while *STASH* featured the film and its creative team. - [Where Talent Ignites presentation at Cannes]() — 2026 — Screening — Cannes, France — May 17, 2026 ## Il Giardinetto References Reference photographs of Il Giardinetto’s interior, furniture and architectural details. [Il Giardinetto reference photographs]() — Reference photographs of Il Giardinetto’s interior, furniture and architectural details. (Reference photographs from the La Llama production archive; individual photographers not fully identified.) [Il Giardinetto reference photographs]() — Reference photographs of Il Giardinetto’s interior, furniture and architectural details. (Reference photographs from the La Llama production archive; individual photographers not fully identified.) ## Developing Il Giardinetto I illustrated and designed the Il Giardinetto setting with The Post Office, drawing on the restaurant’s interior and iconic Spanish design. I also developed the chairs and their movement. Generative studies explored variations in the restaurant’s space, color and texture. [Il Giardinetto design studies]() — Generative design studies for the Il Giardinetto setting. (Gergely Wootsch / The Post Office; La Llama generative development material) [Il Giardinetto design studies]() — Generative design studies for the Il Giardinetto setting. (Gergely Wootsch / The Post Office; La Llama generative development material) [Restaurant look development]() (Gergely Wootsch / The Post Office; La Llama production assets) I used ComfyUI to explore extensions of the restaurant interior and painted treatments, developing the look of the setting before the final Houdini sequence. ## From Chair Studies to Moving Objects [Chair design studies]() (Gergely Wootsch / The Post Office; La Llama production assets) Chair studies explored the forms from several angles and tested different surface treatments. Image-to-3D experiments and retopology helped develop the production models. In Houdini, I built a reusable APEX rigging setup and adapted it to the different chair shapes, creating a custom rig where a chair needed a different approach. ## Animation Development [Animation development]() (Gergely Wootsch / The Post Office; La Llama production assets) Animation studies show how I refined the staging and movement, from initial blocking to the finished rendered composites. I animated the APEX chair rigs using a scripted, procedural workflow. Solaris Stage handled scene assembly and rendering; Copernicus handled image processing, compositing and export. The sequence's 3D execution, including post-processing and compositing, stayed in Houdini. ## Poster [Illustrated poster for La Llama.]() (Pablo Iranzo / ICEX) ## Links - [Official film page and full credits]() - [Official campaign press kit]() - [Complete film on ICEX's Vimeo channel]() - [Turbo's blueprint for beauty — shots]() - [La Llama — STASH]() ## Credits The Il Giardinetto work brought together illustration, design and Houdini animation. The official film credit lists me as a 3D Artist alongside Carlos Neda, Borja Alegre and Bernat Martínez. The wider team credits below follow the official campaign page; its complete credit roll also includes the participating artists, freefall sequence, production support and design objects. - Il Giardinetto — Illustration, Design & Houdini (The Post Office): [Gergely Wootsch]() - Production: White Horse, Apartamento - Direction: Turbo — Pau López and Gerardo del Hierro - Animation Studio: The Post Office - Creative Direction (Apartamento): Nacho Alegre - Literary Script: Leticia Sala - Narrative Script: Vicenzo Angileri, Pau López - Character Design: Jaime Hayon — Hayon Studio - Animation Direction (The Post Office): [Pablo Navarro]() - Executive Producer & Head of Production (The Post Office): Alex Maldonado - Producers (The Post Office): Carolina Iglesias, Jordi Giné, Lorena Monteiro - Film Editor: Ana Rull - Color Grading: Patricia Brewatt - Illustration: Martí Sawe, Maliboo, Hugo Rodríguez, Jaime Hayon, Paulina Mocna, Emma Roulette, Judit Arazo, Alba Prado, David Feliu, Ciara Quilty-Harper, Daniel Berreto, Iván Rodríguez - Animation: Javi Vaquero, Ezequiel Cruz, Libardo Bohórquez, Fernando Abaca, Diego Ferrero, Toni Sala, Martí Sawe, Maliboo, Hugo Rodríguez, Joel Morales, David Feliu, [Pablo Navarro]() - Clean-up Artists: Brenda Moreno, Julieta Culaciati, Joel Morales, Alba Prado, Ezequiel Cruz, Pau Anglada, David Feliu, Martí Sawe, Maliboo, Hugo Rodríguez - 3D Artists: [Gergely Wootsch](), Carlos Neda, Borja Alegre, Bernat Martínez - Lead Compositing Artist: Pol Esteller - Compositing Artists: Hugo Basism, Lúber Mujica - Music: Yerai Cortés - Voice: La Tania - Sound Design: Studio EL - Mix: Haritz Lete / Lera Estudioa - Poster Illustration: Pablo Iranzo