Ray Winkler is a UK registered architect. He is the CEO and design director of STUFISH Entertainment Architects.

Ray began his design career as a carpenter and craftsman. He earned his Master’s in Architecture from University College London and became interested in stage design and mobile architecture while doing postgraduate studies at Sci-Arc in Los Angeles California. Ray was – and still is to this day – drawn to the unique ephemeral and transformative nature of entertainment architecture and the experiences and memories it creates for audiences worldwide.

Ray has devoted more than 25 years to designing live touring shows, theatrical projects, and spectacular one-off productions such as the London 2012 Handover at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony, as well as live TV shows for MTV, VH1 and other TV channels in the USA and the UK. He has worked with some of the biggest names in popular entertainment, including U2, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Beyonce, Robbie Williams, Cirque du Soleil, Disney and Universal Studios. He has also worked extensively in Japan for great artist such as Mr Children, Ai, Yumi Matsutoya, Bz, Universal Studios Japan, Himuro and more recently, Arashi.

Rays ‘other projects include AC/DC Rock or Bust tour, Robbie Williams Swing Both Ways tour, Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, One Direction 2014 world tour, Dragon Quest Live and The Rolling Stones outdoor and indoor shows in Australia and Asia as well as the 2017 No Filter Tour and 2022 Sixty tour. Ray is currently working on numerous projects in the Middle East, Africa, and America.

Most recently Ray worked with ABBA in delivering their spectacular new ABBA Arena in London.

His outstanding artistic and creative ability to design spectacles for an audience together with his great leadership skills will ensure that any project is delivered to the highest standards.

In January 2023 Ray was appointed William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor at Yale School of Architecture leading the ‘Advanced Design Studio: The Future of Entertainment’.

Bill joined Stufish as a Non-Executive Director in April 2021

Bill advises the International Olympic Committee and other worldwide clients in major events and complex cultural projects. Bill`s Non-Executive portfolio includes serving as a Trustee of the National Centre for Circus Arts, a Director/Trustee for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Co-Chair of the Buckinghamshire Cultural Partnership and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is also an International Ambassador for “The Spirit of 2012 Trust” – a grant giving charity supporting social, sporting and cultural legacies of the London 2012 Games.

From 2006 to 2013 Bill was responsible for the team which delivered the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Ceremonies including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Torch Relays, Culture, Education and Live Sites.

Since 2013 he has advised the International Olympic Committee and the Games Organising Committees of Sochi, Rio, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris and Los Angeles on a similar range of topics.

Bill joined London 2012 from the BBC where he worked in radio and TV production and later in senior management. As a Project Director of Live Events, he was responsible for many of the BBC’s major events. These include the ‘BBC Music Live’ Festival, the annual ‘BBC Proms in the Park’, the Olympic Torch Relay Concert in London’s Mall and The Queen’s Concerts at Buckingham Palace (for which he was awarded the ‘LVO’ in The Queen’s Jubilee Honours List).

Bill served on the Radio Academy’s Council from the early 1990s and as Chair from 1998-2001. He was awarded a Fellowship in July 2001. He was granted the Olympic Order of Merit in 2012.

Paul Preston is a qualified accountant with a career in fast moving consumer goods companies, working in Europe and other regions, with specific experience in China, India and a number of other South East Asian countries, where he lived for a number of years.

He has done a wide range of jobs, including roles as CEO, Financial Director, and a number of Human Resource positions focusing on learning and talent management.

Paul was an Independent Director of STUFISH from 2013-2021. He continues to give strategic support to STUFISH and other interests, which he combines with a portfolio of positions in other companies. He maintains his strong interest in support of young people with Autism, both in Europe and India.

His expertise has been a valuable dimension in the development of the STUFISH brand and business.

Paul remains passionate in his belief that people, given trust and the opportunity, can achieve amazing things.

Ric is a Partner and ARB registered architect and has been with STUFISH since 2006.

A show-maker who has been passionately involved with theatre and live events from a young age. This love for creating temporary spaces led him to study architecture at the Bartlett, UCL. Through years of working with productions, he has honed skills across the creative and technical spectrum. His understanding of the demands, opportunities and techniques of live performance makes him a uniquely qualified collaborator.

Over the last 16 years at STUFISH, Ric has led and contributed to a plethora of shows, from global tours to one-off spectacles around the world. Key projects include the Delhi Commonwealth Games (2010), Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way Ball’ (2012), Madonna’s Tours (2012-22), Michael Bublé’s Tours (2013-22), Elton John’s ‘Diving Board Tour’ (2013), ‘We Will Rock You’ productions including video content (2012-22), ‘Monty Python Live – One Down Five To Go’ (2014), Queen + Adam Lambert Tours (2014-22), U2’s Tours (2015-2019), Balich Worldwide Shows ‘Mother of the Nation’ (2016), ‘AIMAG’ Ashgabat (2017), ‘Giudizio Universale’ (2018), Jeff Wayne’s ‘The War of The Worlds’, West End (2016). MTV ‘Video Music Awards’ (2017), Helene Fischer’s Tours (2015-17), Emmy Nominated ‘Homecoming’ by Beyoncé at Coachella (2018), Beyoncé and Jay-Z ‘OTRII Tour” (2018), Mumford & Sons ‘Delta Tour’ (2018-19), The British Fashion Awards (2017-22), Global Citizen Festival (2018-22), Pentakill virtual concert (2021), Electric Daisy Carnival (2022), Stormzy’s ‘Heavy is the Head Tour’ (2022), Adele Brits, Hyde Park and Las Vegas Show (2022), The Joy Awards in Riyadh (2022) and HM The Queens Platinum Jubilee (2022).

Ric’s design and production experience equips him with a vision to conceive and deliver the finest holistic productions from initial design meetings to the first performance. His approach to designing for entertainment, from modest to world-class, is focused on the relationship of the performer to the audience, their experience and their memories.

Simone is a Partner and the Commercial Manager at STUFISH. She qualified with honours from University College of London in Media and Business Applications before she completed her law degree at BPP Law School in London.

Drawing on her studies and her extensive previous experience for the marketing and promotion organisation for the city of The Hague, in her native country the Netherlands and at Kohn Pedersen Fox in London, she is able to combine all her passions and skills in the role of Commercial Manager at STUFISH.

Together with her experienced team, she is responsible for all the legal aspects of the studio, PR and Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, and the general running of the studio.

Alicia is a Partner and ARB registered architect, joining STUFISH in 2008. She studied Architecture at University College London and the University of Westminster, where she qualified with distinction. Working on a wide variety of both architectural and entertainment-based projects at STUFISH has allowed her to combine her love of both disciplines, and ensure that influences and skills are seamlessly and successfully integrated, to holistically create ‘Entertainment Architecture’.

Alicia has recently led the design of the ABBA Arena and Show – a 3,000 capacity, state-of-the-art demountable arena, housing the revolutionary ABBA Voyage show which opened in May 2022 and currently located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. This unique project provided the dream opportunity of leading the design of the arena building, and as production designer for this ground-breaking show, which will tour after its tenure in London.

She has also led and worked on other large-scale architectural projects in China, for the Dalian Wanda Group, including The Han Show Theatre in Wuhan, in 2014 and the Dai Show Theatre in Xishuangbanna China in 2015, both of which are bespoke theatres.

Alicia has also worked on a wide variety of touring and one-off shows, including: ‘Atlantis’ 2017 and ‘Supernova’ 2019 tours for Holiday on Ice, ‘Giudizio Universale: Michelangelo and the Secrets of the Sistine Chapel’ a permanent theatre show in Rome, Mumford + Sons: Delta Tour in 2018, ‘Hugh Jackman: The Man. The Music. The Show’ world tour in 2019 and a number of specialist shows in the UAE.

Alicia is involved in all stages of a project from initial client meetings, design concept and development, managing construction, site visits and rehearsals through to the opening.

Alicia loves dogs, and her Labrador Boz is often in the studio, meeting and greeting clients and guests!

MAciej joined STUFISH in 2010 and is a UK registered architect and has worked on a variety of projects around the world.

After interning in architectural practices in Switzerland at a young age, MAciej moved to the UK to begin his not-so-formal education. MAciej completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies at the Architectural Association in London and his postgraduate studies at Westminster University.

Much like the beginning stages of his architectural schooling, MAciej is drawn to a design process driven by interaction, motion and simplicity. Discovering tools that can be misused and re-appropriated in the goal of creating a new efficient paradigm within architecture is the driving force behind his work. This constant discovery is a way of balancing the multiple elements of building, context and program into a single beautiful narrative.

Some of MAciej’s key projects include the worlds largest indoor movie theme park, The Wuhan Movie Park and Dai Show Theatre; an exemplar project for STUFISH in which context, architecture and show were designed by the team at STUFISH.

MAciej has taught at his Architectural Association School of Architecture and has been a guest critic at Westminster University and The ESAG Penninghen in Paris.

Dan Dodds is an ARB registered architect. He studied BSc Architecture at UCL and became interested in lightweight and touring structures while completing his Masters in Architecture at the University of Westminster. He has worked at STUFISH since 2013, and qualified as an architect in 2016.

He has worked across a wide range of events and theatre building projects, and his specialism in computational design has allowed him to work on complex forms that are optimised to be both dramatic in effect and efficient in use of materials.

He has worked on complex architectural projects including, Chimelong, Skolkovo, Keller, Dai Show, and Han Show Theatres, as well as televised events including the National Television Awards; MTV VMA’s, and One Direction’s performance on The X Factor Final 2015.

Rachel has worked as a Designer at STUFISH since 2016 combining her interest in structural forms and art, with her knowledge of craftsmanship and digital fabrication, to produce creative and individual designs.

Rachel started her career working with creatives in fashion and theatre to develop and realise a wide range of designs. The technical methodology from her master’s degree and practical knowledge of construction methods allow her to take a lateral approach to creative design. Throughout her career, Rachel has had experience working on a wide range of projects including Theatre, Exhibitions, Touring music shows and live events.

Rachel’s enjoys projects where the narrative of the design blends with the functionality of the product. She is continually exploring new technologies and materials that will play a part in the sustainable design of tomorrow.

Katy Hepburn is the archivist at STUFISH. Her role largely centres around preserving the Mark Fisher legacy.

Adrian is an Associate and Senior Animator and has been with STUFISH since the beginning.

Adrian ran away from Architecture school in the early 70’s to join “The Theatre”. He survived a three month season as stage carpenter in weekly rep and spent the next decade building scenery, making props & costumes and lighting shows – before his first “proper” career as stage designer in Edinburgh, designing more than 80 productions for a variety of theatre companies, including two for the Scottish National Theatre Company.

He crossed the divide to work as production manager for a few years, before becoming a model maker. He began at Fisher Park creating cardboard & wire visualisations of the touring stage designs for the early shows of the Stones, U2 and Tina Turner.

He transitioned from card, paint and wire to CAD, 3D animation and rendering. For the Phil Collins ‘Dancing into the light’ tour in ’97 there was no physical scale model of the innovative ‘in the round’ stage set. Instead multiple (VHS!) copies of an animation showing how it all went together and worked were distributed to everyone involved. A revolution in design communication; Adrian did it first and has been developing it ever since.

Harriet Portman is the Studio Assistant for STUFISH.
She joined in 2017 after graduating from the University of Roehampton with an Upper Second-Class BA Hons in Creative Writing and English Literature.
Harriet maintains the Studio, runs the social media accounts and website, and will occasionally help with Photoshop work.
When she is not in the Studio, she is either reading, writing, or visiting medieval cities.

Rashmi Shah is a qualified Chartered Accountant and business adviser, with a BA Honours degree in Economics from Essex University.

He joined the STUFISH team in 2016 as a financial controller bringing over 38 years of experience, in both large and small business over a multiple range of business sectors and industries.

His interests include providing personal and business mentoring to young adults on a one-one basis and through workshops and assists them through work placement experience; and advises a few charities on various matters to fulfil their regulatory and compliance obligations.

He has a keen interest in meditation, personal development, and gentle Yoga.

Hui Hui is an experienced architect with a comprehensive knowledge of design, construction, and sustainability. Her expertise in Chinese language and Asian culture, with a proven track record of procuring business opportunities makes her instrumental in developing STUFISH’s business at the China/Asian market.

She has a keen interest in new materials, technology and sustainable development and applies where appropriate the results of her on-going research to our designs. She was the Project Architect of ‘Think Tank’, in Lincoln, a new flagship innovation centre with high-quality workshops, offices, meeting and exhibition space designed to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ status. In 2009, Hui Hui’s expertise in sustainability was rewarded with the RIBA Environment Initiative Award and the RIBA Award (East Midland).

Hui Hui’s ability to understand the commercial interests of our clients together with her extensive experience specifically with circulation, queuing, flow and evacuation strategies ensures that our work not only takes a compelling design into account but also implements these strategies to achieve the best working environment for the visitor, creates welcoming and dynamic public spaces and achieves a higher footfall and revenue.

Since joining STUFISH in 2013, Hui Hui’s unique experience and knowledge in projects and Asia market saw her involved in the interior packages of the multiple award winning project Dai Show theatre, façade proposals of several large mixed-use developments in China, spatial planning of theatres ranging from bespoke, multi/flexi-use, temporary to refurbishment and most notably, a number of ground breaking and unique experiential, leisure landmark proposals (still confidential) in New York, Las Vegas, Middle East and Asia.

Dio joined STUFISH in 2017. He studied architecture at the University of Westminster and received his diploma from the Bartlett School of Architecture where he qualified with distinction.

Outside of architecture, Dio has a great passion for photography and cinematography which lends itself really well to our work here at STUFISH when designing new projects as well documenting the process.

He works across a wide range of projects, in both touring shows and permanent entertainment projects, some of which include We Will Rock You the musical and the National Television Awards and many others.

Before joining STUFISH, he was part of big commercial projects at PLP architecture, where he developed his knowledge in the construction industry from concept design all the way to detail design.

Zarya is an interdisciplinary designer and artist with a wide range of experience in the fields of architecture, spatial and set design. This broad spectrum has allowed her to create, think and build in a variety of scales, typologies and clients. She has studied architecture and interior design, completing her MA at the Royal College of Art in London. During a semester exchange in Kyoto, learning about local crafts and sustainable building techniques, she developed a design for a ceramics school, which was awarded distinction upon graduation at the RCA and exhibited in multiple shows

Zarya is always thrilled for exchange of ideas with diverse disciplines and curious of innovative and sustainable methods, materials and technologies. She enjoys engaging with projects that have a cultural, social and educational impact. Encouraged to speculate on the obvious – she strives to grow into a behavioural analyst that conceives processes, tells stories and provokes interactions through her designs. Before joining STUFISH, she worked as an exhibition designer, developing educational and interactive exhibitions and experiences in the UK and abroad.

Her passion for culture and performance arts brought her to STUFISH in 2018, where she continues to nurture her interest for designing sense-stimulating and thought-provoking environments all around the world. Collaborating with a wide range of professionals from the entertainment industry and being part of the vibrant and talented STUFISH team is one of the things she cherishes the most. Zarya has been involved in numerous projects from the very early creative phase all the way through to construction. Some of those include Madonna Madame X Tour, Hugh Jackman – The Man, The Music, The Show, Elekron Show, Andy Lau – My Love, Pink Floyd – TMR, Elton John – Yellow Brick Road, Grandpa’s Great Escape and more.