Architects "are the ones who discovered the power" of AI imaging says Seraphinne Vallora co-founder Andreea Petrescu

AI marketing studio Seraphinne Vallora made headlines with its controversial AI model campaign in Vogue. In this interview, co-founder Andreea Petrescu tells Dezeen how she learnt the power of attention-grabbing images while working at Foster + Partners.

Petrescu, who co-founded Seraphinne Vallora two years ago with fellow architecture graduate Valentina Gonzalez, previously worked at Foster + Partners, where she was involved in the concept development of projects.

She said that it was in this role that she learned to create an image that sells.

"I was working at Foster + Partners doing competition projects for Saudi Arabia, and when you do a competition, you have to attract attention from the client, the public and superiors you work with, so that you win," Petrescu told Dezeen.

"You learn about how to create compositions and stories that sell the project – I feel like that's the most important part."

"We always thought about the story of the space first and what happens in the location," she continued. "We didn't just create beautiful renders of that location; we put activity in there"

"That's how we also approach our AI images now for fashion and real estate."

Seraphinne Vallora was caught up in media frenzy when an AI campaign it created for clothing company Guess was printed in three countries' editions of Vogue magazine, which it claims is the first time the magazine has used AI-driven images.

The Guess campaign was also featured in other publications, including Grazia, Harper's Bazaar, Elle and Financial Times, as well as in Guess stores.

Many were outraged at the AI images, expressing concerns over unrealistic beauty standards and for job security in the fashion industry. However, the backlash did not surprise Petrescu.

"I'm not surprised at all, because I realised we shocked an industry that has done things in one way forever,” she said.

While the fashion industry may be grappling with how to embrace AI, Petrescu argued that architects are the ones spearheading its development for image creation. She believes that advances in AI image generation were driven by the desire to make the architectural rendering process faster.

"This technology in architecture will be accepted the fastest, if it's not already accepted," she said.

"I remember in university and being at Foster + Partners, we were curious about it because we saw the potential, because we knew how long it takes to render and do a project – what if there's a tool that can make all of this a little faster for us, or make the atmosphere change in an instant?"

"I believe architects started this," Petrescu continued. "Architects and rendering teams are the ones who discovered the power of this."

Petrescu believes that AI is a powerful tool that designers and creatives should welcome into their practices, arguing that it is the creativity of people that forms the final image.

"I still believe in human creativity, because we are still at the base of everything – there are still humans behind all of the screens to cope with the codes, the prompting and who envision the end result," she said.

"I know for a fact you cannot build a building if you use entirely AI – that's not how it works," she said. "It's a great tool like any other tool in architecture, like AutoCAD and Photoshop, you use them for different purposes."

"As we evolve, we are going to have plenty of other technologies, and we need to embrace them," Petrescu argued. "We need to stop fearing them."

Although Seraphinne Vallora garnered attention for its AI images of realistic-looking women in high-end clothing, a large portion of the firm's clients are real estate companies.

Seraphinne Vallora takes renders of buildings and enhances them with AI, adding in realistic-looking people and making the image more photo-like.

Petrescu argued that the AI alterations make the images more sellable to the everyday person, as it is easier to imagine yourself in the setting.

"We place realistic people in and we change the light to make it more like a photo, because the render, even if it's incredible, still has a render quality," said Petrescu. "Sometimes companies cannot make them feel homey and help people picture themselves in that space."

"Rendering companies and architecture companies come to us through our website and Instagram page because they see how well we create humans, and they need humans to sell their apartments or buildings," she continued.

"Normal people don't have the eye that architects have to position themselves inside the space and visualise it the same way. You need to create images that connect to real people who are not in the industry, because you don't sell to other architects."

The images are courtesy of Seraphinne Vallora.

Dezeen In Depth

If you enjoy reading Dezeen's interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

The post Architects "are the ones who discovered the power" of AI imaging says Seraphinne Vallora co-founder Andreea Petrescu appeared first on Dezeen.