Bram Timmer
Updated: 2026-07-10
We don’t remember information. We remember how people, places, and moments made us feel.
I believe creativity is less about making things and more about shaping memory. Living itself can be a creative act.
For more than twenty-five years, I’ve been creating experiences that people carry with them—across brands, digital products, films, spaces, books, objects, and shared moments.
My work lives at the intersection of strategy, design, and storytelling.
I’ve collaborated with startups, Fortune 500 companies, cultural institutions, governments, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs. Every project asks a different question, but I’m usually chasing the same answer: how do we make people care?
A Builder of Worlds
I’ve never been interested in staying inside a single discipline. I’ve worked as a designer, creative director, producer, photographer, strategist, filmmaker, writer, and entrepreneur—not because I couldn’t choose one path, but because ideas rarely respect those boundaries.
Whether developing a brand, producing a television series, designing an installation, creating a book, or building a business, I’m drawn to work that creates atmosphere, invites participation, and leaves people feeling something long after the experience has faded.
To me, every project is an opportunity to build a world. But not every project should be a world.
The Journey
I’ve always been fascinated by the relationship between story and system. Every medium is simply another way of exploring how people experience the world. That curiosity first took shape during the early days of digital—illustration, animation, scripting, and storytelling during the golden era of Flash. I cut my teeth designing for TV properties like Corner Gas and Taking It Off, led design at Blatant (now Absorb), and worked remotely long before it was standard practice—since 2001.
Under the moniker Beside, I built a practice in Vancouver and Toronto focused on design, art direction, and digital campaigns.
At the same time, I helped FITC festivals find its footing across Hollywood, New York, Seoul, and Amsterdam—guiding their creative direction while championing the role of design in emerging technology.
I was also chief editor and co-founder of Digital Softbox Magazine and Digital Abstracts, and a contributing member to Ventilate—all influential media platforms that documented the evolution of design and digital photography in the early 2000s.
Following Ideas, Not Disciplines
My career has rarely followed a straight line. I’ve moved between photography, design, filmmaking, advertising, public art, writing, immersive experiences, and entrepreneurship—not because they were separate careers, but because each offered another way to explore the same question: how do we create something people genuinely connect with?
Under Aside, I shifted into photography and video, leading documentation efforts for Banff World Media Festival and the Teenage Paparazzo Experience North American Tour. That chapter brought me face-to-face with cultural icons—Ricky Gervais, William Shatner, Lisa Kudrow, Ed Asner, Judd Apatow, Juliette Lewis, David Suzuki, Howie Mandel, and many others.
In 2012, I founded Wild Forest, a creative production studio focused on narrative and world-building experiences. I also partnered with KMV Digital in New York to consult on global brand strategy and creative. Over the years, I’ve worked with organizations including the NBA, Apple, Unilever, Yale University, Ricoh, Citi, and the U.S. State Department. My experiential and public art installations have appeared across Canada, including projects for the Calgary Film Centre, TD Canada Trust, and the City of Calgary.
In 2025, I co-founded palm™, a micro-agency rooted in screen-based storytelling, systems thinking, and high craft. Here I lead cross-functional teams and guide narratives from concept to execution—with precision and emotional clarity.
Creative Leadership with Public Impact
I believe creativity grows stronger when people have somewhere to gather. Back in 2014, that belief led me to found the Council of Artists and Multimedia Professionals (CAMP) to explore the convergence of art, technology, and storytelling through annual festivals, talk shows, and industry workshops. CAMP was acquired by FITC in 2021.
That same year, I shifted deeper into film and television—joining the National Screen Institute’s Business for Producers program and became a member of the Producers Guild of America.
Advisor, Advocate, and Cultural Connector
Over time, my role naturally expanded beyond making creative work to helping others shape it.
In 2017, as Vice President of Digital Alberta, I helped restructure the organization, relaunch its awards program, and secure funding. Since then, I’ve advised national and provincial media funds, mentored emerging creators through TELUS Storyhive, and helped shape immersive content programs.
My advisory work has supported the Government of Canada, TELUS, the provincial Government of Alberta, and multiple post-secondary institutions—including Alberta University of the Arts, Lethbridge Polytechnic, and Bow Valley College. I was also a key connector and collaborator on the TED Summit in Banff.
Recognition Along the Way
Beyond industry work, my personal projects have exhibited internationally, and my perspective has been featured on television, radio, and in media outlets including CBC, CTV, and Playback Magazine. I’ve served on juries for public art programs and creative awards, and received recognition from organizations like the Webby Awards, FWA, Awwwards, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
A Lifelong Drive to Build Worlds
I grew up beside the Efteling theme park in the Netherlands—a place where architecture, folklore, landscape, music, and storytelling merged into a world that allowed imagination to feel tangible. Long before I understood branding, strategy, or production, I undertood wonder. Looking back, I think I’ve been trying to recreate that feeling ever since. The mediums may have changed but the amibition hasn’t.
From my roots of Dutch design to cinematic strategy in Cannes, I’ve engaged with cultural institutions and creative leaders around the world—not as a tourist, but as a participant in shaping where media, technology, and storytelling intersect. These experiences don’t just influence my thinking; they define how I curate and build: with imagination, curiosity, and context.