Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Manor.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I was in graduate school in the early 2000’s in Boston, I developed software & hardware systems for real-time video special effects. Today we would call them ‘filters’, and see them all the time on Instagram or Snapchat. I collaborated with musicians and dancers to bring elements of digital video into live performances. I started an audiovisual performance group with two of my good friends, called Sosolimited, and we held events that blended elements of electronic music, cinema, and theater.
We were lucky enough to be invited around the world to perform, and with a raised profile started getting requests from media and tech companies to help produce their events and build interactive installations. We made the transition from ‘Sosolimited’ the band into ‘Sosolimited’ the digital experience design company.
I moved to San Diego in 2012 to open up the west coast offices of the company. Our work blends aspects of architecture, electronics, media, and software. We’ve created unique interactive experiences for the Olympics, Google, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the County of San Diego, Qualcomm, and many others.
Has it been a smooth road?
None of us three founders went to business school or really had any clue about sales, management, or marketing. We were laser-focused on the art and really didn’t know how the real world of commerce worked. There was a lot of trial-and-error learning over our first ten years. We’ve been stiffed by clients, had competitors sue us, and have had installations damaged by lightning strikes!
We now know to over-communicate with our partners, have a good lawyer and contracts, and electrically ground everything very well.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Sosolimited story. Tell us more about the business.
We create technology-driven experiences that are usually, but now always, located in real physical space. Every project is different, but some examples of things we’ve created are
– a chandelier in the shape of the world map that’s showing real-time data on financial markets, rainfall, and electricity usage.
– an algorithmically designed clothing line that uses your browser search history to create unique items based on your online past
– a kinetic sculpture in a pharmaceutical company’s headquarters that mimics the movements of flocking birds
I am most proud of the relationships we’ve build over the years; with our employees, collaborators, clients, and peers. It’s a process of growth as we get to learn from companies and teams that are the experts in their fields. And we give them unique designs that help them create impact in new ways.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Now that most everyone is carrying a supercomputer around in their pockets, complex interactive experiences can happen anywhere. You can watch dinosaurs run around your living room or tune into a live concert from the beach 5000 miles away. We’re looking for new ways to blend the digital and the physical.
Artificial intelligence gets a lot of hype and deserves a lot of it. Tools and techniques that would take a developer months or years to develop in the past can now be put together by an intern brute force training an AI model.
Contact Info:
- Address: 740 13th St. #224
San Diego, CA 92101 - Website: http://sosolimited.com
- Phone: 617-792-1406
- Email: info@sosolimited.com
- Instagram: @sosolimited
- Facebook: @sosolimited
- Twitter: @sosolimited
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