We ask WHY design HOW and communicate WHAT
Featured project · Commission · Wine label · 2020
Grounded
For Remarkable State Wines' COVID "Recovery Project", Gill painted the label artwork with the wine itself and with soil from the vineyards. The wines took their name, Grounded, from the artwork.
The story 2The process 4Videos 8The wine 3Images 2People 4
The agency years8
ProjectMarketing project · Founder · 2021QR ArtProjectCommission · Painting and screensaver · 2021NewdayProjectFramework · Author · 2025The FRAGILE ProjectProjectParticipatory performance · Creator · 2026VAGUS NERVINGProjectPodcast · Host · 2026M.A.D. For LifeVideoProjection · Film artwork · 2020Blink of an EyeEventStage show · Music, art and narrative · 2021 to 2026Still Alive and KickingEventImmersive performance · Creative Director · 2022Hippocampus · the Show
M.A.D. Minds2
Timeline
Adelaide
Before 1991A jazz singer in Adelaide Gill trained as a jazz singer and sang with local bands in Adelaide.
The London years
Early 1990sThe move to London Gill moved from Adelaide to London to sing jazz professionally, then turned towards design and curation.
From the 1990sThe Wapping Project, the early days Gill was part of the early days of turning the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station into a restaurant, gallery and theatre space with Jules Wright, one of her greatest teachers in how to light a room or an object. Open the project
Before 2005Publishing Director, Blueprint Gill was Publishing Director of Blueprint, the London magazine of architecture, design and contemporary culture, where she established herself in the British design scene. Open the project
Before 2005Founding Director, Dangerous Minds Gill founded and directed Dangerous Minds, a multi-disciplinary design and publishing consultancy in London, and her first design consultancy. Open the project
Around 1999 to 2000Soul Creatures Crossing from jazz into dance music, Gill recorded two tracks as the featured vocalist with Soul Creatures, "Was That All It Was" and "Mystery to You", released on vinyl. Open the project
January 2005Trustee of the Women's Playhouse Trust Gill joined the board of the Women's Playhouse Trust, the charity behind The Wapping Project, on 10 January 2005, and served as a trustee until August 2023. Open the project
Until July 2005Head of Curation, Design Council Gill led the curatorial team at the UK Design Council, in an office across from the Opera House in Covent Garden. Open the project
2009 to 2011Trustee of The Architecture Foundation Gill served as a trustee of The Architecture Foundation in London, a role her 2016 AM citation lists alongside her design work at Blueprint and the Design Council.
Adelaide, 2012 to 2019
2012Home to Adelaide, and M.A.D. Minds Gill returned to live in Adelaide and launched M.A.D. Minds, a studio and online business exploring "the power of communication through music, art and the spoken word". It grew into a think and do tank.
2018Back to painting Gill came back to painting when artist Chris Orchard asked her to paint for a charity auction. Mandalas of tiny footprints and the fingerprint series Brilliant Tall Poppy followed, and she was awarded the Ed Tweddell Residency at Central Studios in Adelaide.
The agency years, 2020 to now
2020Music Art Discussion Gill led Music Art Discussion as Creative Director, an arts practice "where creative disciplines collaborate to design the 'how' when asking 'why'", and the forerunner of The M.A.D. Creative Agency.
2020Emergence In the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic Gill painted Emergence, after lying in the grass and looking at the clouds changed how she felt about the changing world.
June 2020Grounded Remarkable State Wines commissioned Gill to paint label artwork for its COVID Recovery Project. She painted with the wine itself and with soil from the vineyards, and the wines, released in 2021, took their name from the artwork. Open the project
October 2020Blink of an Eye Gill's 13-minute film of Australian stage performers who lost their stage to COVID-19 played on the Adelaide Convention Centre's North Terrace screen and was projected onto its East Building each night through October. Open the project
February 2021QR Art QR Art, a project of Music Art Discussion, built a dynamic QR code into artworks and merchandise, offered as "Art as a Service" to support live performance. Open the project
2021Still Alive (and Kicking) Gill's first self-devised stage show of spoken narrative, jazz standards and projected paintings opened at Adelaide Fringe on 24 February 2021 and won the Adelaide Fringe Edinburgh Award. On 26 August it was streamed to Edinburgh Napier University for the Edinburgh Fringe. Open the project
2021Newday For Newday Leadership Gill painted the dawn's brief iridescent lilac light, a painting given to participants as a screensaver and a daily reminder that every day is a chance to start afresh. Open the project
February 2022HIPPOCAMPUS Gill was Creative Director of HIPPOCAMPUS, an immersive performance melding visual art, neuroscience and an original score. It premiered at Adelaide Fringe with eight performances at The LAB Adelaide, and its music was released as HIPPOCAMPUS the Album. Open the project
May 2022Be Your Own MENTOR Be Your Own MENTOR was published by SMARThacks on 5 May 2022.
2022Still Alive travels Still Alive (and Kicking) played the Perth International Cabaret Festival in June and the APAX Conference in Sydney, and its album, STILL ALIVE and KICKING, was released on 28 December under the Music Art Discussion label. Open the project
2023Still Alive at Adelaide Fringe Still Alive (and Kicking) returned to Adelaide Fringe for a 2023 season at Light ADL. Open the project
2025Still Alive in London After a season at Woodville Town Hall for Adelaide Fringe, Still Alive (and Kicking) had its UK premiere at Wilton's Music Hall on 9 July 2025, presented by James Seabright. Open the project
2025The FRAGILE Project Gill's framework "Finding AGILITY in Fragility", drawn from her lived experience, became a keynote topic. Open the project
2025The M.A.D. Creative Agency Music Art Discussion grew into The M.A.D. Creative Agency, carrying on its way of asking 'why' and designing the 'how', with its own home at themadcreative.agency.
February 2026M.A.D. For Life Gill began the M.A.D. For Life podcast, built on the seven pillars of Being Well, produced with Rory Noke of PodBooth Adelaide. Open the project
February to March 2026VAGUS NERVING Gill performed VAGUS NERVING, a participatory humming choir with jazz improvisation, at The Meeting Hall during Adelaide Fringe on 23 February and 8 March. Open the project
June to July 2026Still Alive tours England Still Alive (and Kicking) returned to England: Wilton's Music Hall from 29 June to 1 July, City Varieties in Leeds on 7 and 8 July, and Bristol Old Vic on 14 July. Open the project
The roles6
A strategic studio that transforms complex ideas into powerful, human-centred narratives, brands and experiences, designed to inspire action, shift perspective and create meaningful impact.
How we connect, and who we connect with, is what makes the difference to a project. From original commissions to keynote stages, every engagement begins by probing the WHY before designing the HOW.