NELSON CHENG

SET & CONCEPT DESIGN

WORK EXPERIENCE (FILM/TV)

2025-PRESENT STARFLEET ACADEMY – SEASON 2

1st Assistant Art Director Set Design
Production Designer  Matthew Davies
Art Directors  Anne Van Koeverden, Hayley Isaacs, John Kim, Michaela Cheyne

2023-2024 STARFLEET ACADEMY – SEASON 1

1st Assistant Art Director Set Design
Production Designer  Matthew Davies
Art Directors  Anne Van Koeverden, Matt Morgan, Hayley Isaacs, Christine Gonsalves

2023 STAR TREK: SECTION 31  (FEATURE)

1st Assistant Art Director Set Design
Production Designer   Paul Kirby
Art Directors  Anne Van Koeverden, Matt Morgan, Tijana Petrovic

2022 STAR TREK DISCOVERY – SEASON 5

1st Assistant Art Director Set Design
Production Designer  Doug McCullough
Art Directors  Matt Middleton, Matt Morgan, Jim Goodall, Anne Van Koeverden

2022 BEACON 23 – SEASON 1

1st Assistant Art Director Set Design
Production Designer  Todd Fjelsted
Art Directors  Evan Webber, Jennifer Jozwiak

2020/21 STAR TREK DISCOVERY – SEASON 4

2nd Assistant Art Director Set Design
Production Designer  Doug McCullough
Art Directors  Matt Middleton, Matt Morgan, Jim Goodall, Domini Anderson

2020 STAR TREK STRANGE NEW WORLDS – SEASON 1

2nd Assistant Art Director Set Design
Production Designer  Jonathan Lee
Art Directors  Jody Clement, Hayley Isaacs, Alex Schnobb

OTHER WORK EXPERIENCE

2017-PRESENT PRACTISING VISUAL ARTIST

Paintings at NELSONCHENG.CA

2010-2017  VARIOUS ARCHITECTURAL OFFICES

Including: Gensler Architecture/Design Toronto, Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP NY, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Los Angeles, Susan Speigel Architect.

Practised as an ‘intern’ architect en-route to professional accreditation. Roles consisted of design development, drafting, overseeing construction administration on mostly commercial interior projects and public housing.

Baraam Lounge is a Virtual Production Wall set, the main set is virtually extended in to the digital asset on the screen walls. The primary design draws influence from Art Nouveau architecure and graphic design. I had the opportunity to work alongside the Production designer in creating pattern languages that would make its way in to the various set pieces throughout this set.

My responsibilities included overseeing the set layout, riser design, designing set pieces including: banquets, performance stage, colonnades, floor lamps, and also devloping the architecture in the virtual asset.

Bar and VIP seating area, entrance facade was design by Roy Zandboer.

Outpost Set is both a locations set and a repurposed set at Pinewood across two stages. It is a two level set comprised of 3 major areas in the stage. I was in charge of developing the upper and lower tunnel areas, and some of the elements on location (the entrance to the outpost).

Reusing a circular rib structure of the previous set, a foam panelling system was designed to match the concrete coffering aesthetics of an existing Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) escape tunnel.

Below I worked on drawing up wall flats for the locations ‘entrance’, as well as designing a blast door.

Concepts by Henry Fong and Frank Yang. Art Direction by Tijana Petrovic

Breen Cargo Bay and Bridge was a Virtual Production Wall set. Concept design was done by Mike Stanek, I was given the task of developing the corner-unit, plant-on consoles, and throne.

The units played in a cargo bay set, and were then converted in to a ship bridge with plant-on console and throne.

Breen Throne concept design by Lee Fitzgerald. I carried out the construction break down of this set piece. The throne was wild for french-reverse on the Virtual Wall. the throne also featured a lot of lighting elements as well as its own plant-on console with playback.

The Sandrunners was one of my favourite set builds. I had thte pleasure of designing and developing this motorbike on sand. The build consisted of a hero sandrunner that played on a SPFX gimbal, which was programmed to sync with the Virtual Production wall as if it was riding through a desert. This was a very fun processs in testing the ergonomicss and position of the  rider and balancing that with requirements from photography and stunts.

Three hero bikes were built, one for each main character in the scene. Each bike featured a unique colour scheme on the wing and differentiatting front headlight for closeups.

Three backgrounds sandrunners were also constructed for an encampment set. The background vehicles were made from photogrammetry scans of SetDec purchased snowmobiles, and then I designed pieces and additions to look the part.

Lyrek Statues were concepts made by Henry Fong and sculpts by Andy Tsang. I was in charge of carrying out the breakdown for construction of the set pieces. There were multiple large statue pieces, all set in location in a forest. As well as a practical plinth on a tiled floor. It was fun exploring building methods to execute these massive sculpts.

Spacestation featured many different components. I drafted various pieces all over the station, most notably was designing the SPFX operated doors. The set was constructed upside down and shot both ways.

Alien Mushrooms were set pieces for a Virtual Production Wall set. The challenge was finding an easy method for constructing these organic shapes while allowing scenic to achieve a particular materiality.

Ni’var Council Boardroom and Meditation Room was concepted by Mike Stanek. The two sets were locations set at the historic Massey College at the Universitry of Toronto. I was in charge of the meditation room, which changed spots a few times and ultimately we settled in a main area, plugs and flats were made to complete the look of the Vulcan planet.

Discovery Lounge was a repurposed Amort set. I was given the banquet, columns, walls and lighting in the ceiling to design.

Living Quarters set comprised of several areas within the set: bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, a study. I was tasked in developing some of the meatier bones of the set as the various areas were designed and approved. This included the columns, ceiling flats, wall flats and an operable window flat. I was also designing a wildable playback wall.

KALEIDOSCOPE ART AND DESIGN

NELSON CHENG

+1 416 300 6464