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Keith Raywood

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Keith Raywood, also credited as Keith Ian Raywood, is an Emmy award-winning American Production Designer.

Early Life and Education

Raywood was born in New York City, New York, and lived between there and Miami Beach, Florida, throughout his childhood. As a teenager, he attended The Dwight School and studied painting at The Art Students League of New York with Issac Soyer. In 1975, while enrolled at Cornell University for painting, he switched to architecture at the end of his freshman year, and then left for London to study at The Architectural Association School of Architecture. While there, he joined the unit that was tutored by architects Bernard Tschumi and Nigel Coates. In the spring of 1978, he traveled to the Soviet Union with Rem Koolhaas, along with Koolhass' other students and colleagues. Raywood credits his time at The AA as most inspiring and influential in his work, and it would later greatly inform his process, aesthetic, and "Architectural" style as a Production Designer.

In 1980, Raywood briefly returned to Cornell where he formed the band Symbols, released two EP's, and regularly performed in New York City clubs like CBGB's, Tramps, Danceteria, & Max's Kansas City.

Career

Shortly after moving back to New York City in 1982, Raywood would meet and become the assistant to Eugene Lee on the film Easy Money. He would work with Lee as his assistant and Art Director for the next five years on most of Lee's film, television, and theatre projects, while also designing his own early work in music video's, commercials, television, and theatre. In 1985, Raywood would co-design with Lee the original production of The Normal Heart at The Public Theater in New York City. Raywood has remained close friends with his mentor Lee, and to this day they share the Production Design credit at Saturday Night Live.

Raywood became the Art Director of Saturday Night Live (NBC) in 1985, and has been one of its Production Designers since 1989. He has also designed many music specials and series for Viacom's MTV, VH1, BET, and Spike TV networks including The MTV Video Music Awards, The Hip Hop Honors, The Vogue/VH1 Fashion Awards, Hard Rock Live, 106 and Park, MTV Unplugged (2007), Divas Live, and The Eagles' Hell Freezes Over, Spike TV Video Game Awards, VH1 Rock Honors: The Who, as well as all of the combined upfronts for MTV Networks. His other television credits include 30 Rock (NBC), Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry (HBO), Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam (HBO), Late Night With Conan O'Brien (NBC), and The Concert For New York City (VH1/CBS) broadcast live from Madison Square Garden one month following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, and for which he received a 2002 Emmy nomination. He has designed music videos and performances for recording artists such as Justin Timberlake, Usher, Beck, Iggy Pop, Madonna, Fiona Apple, Mary J. Blige, Maxwell, Whitney Houston, Salt-N-Pepa, Death in Vegas, Bon Jovi, The Foo Fighters, and Macy Gray, as well as commercials for Nikon, AT&T, Apple, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Gap, GE, Visa, Dove, and Nike, while working with noted directors Michael Haussman, Mark Romanek, Mark Seliger, and Terry Richardson, among others.

In 2007, Raywood turned his attentions to creating architectural designs for Video Art installations by artist/director/photographer Michael Somoroff. Their first collaboration Illumination opened at the BravinLee gallery on June 21, 2007, in New York City.

Awards

In 2009, Raywood was nominated for three Art Directors Guild Awards for his 2008 designs of Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, and the MTV Video Music Awards. In 2010, he was again nominated by the Art Directors Guild for 30 Rock and SNL. He was also nominated for two 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards for Saturday Night Live, and The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards for which he won for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety, Music, or Non-fiction Programming. He also took a first place 2009 Promax Broadcast Design Award for his work on 2008's Spike Guys' Choice Awards. In 2010, Raywood received another Emmy nomination for Saturday Night Live, his 4th for that show.

References

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