Living Things with Dom Cordilla

Prop stylists like Dom Cordilla deploy many creative strategies to achieve the right concept. 

Words by Michael Wilmarth

Photographed by Jon Wes

A gray poodle stares at me from a leather armchair. At the far end of the room, among the palm plants and climbing vines, a pixelated man is crouched in the corner, rummaging through a cabinet. He comes back into focus carrying an array of coup glasses. His long, brown hair is pushed back under a blue baseball cap. He holds each glass up and rotates it between his fingers for the camera. His name is Dom Cordilla, and these are a few of his favorite things. 

Wild geese and cream colored ponies notwithstanding, Julie Andrews’s list of things from the 1965 production Sound of Music are not far from the variety of objects Cordilla works with. He’s a prop stylist, a little-known but integral component of the advertising world. “It sounds so vague to people outside of the industry,” Cordilla said. “I always say, if you’re watching a commercial or seeing an instagram ad, anything that’s not the actual product is typically the work of a
prop stylist.” 

Some of his past clients include Modelo, Ragu, and Herradura. When you see each of the projects side by side, his specialty becomes clear—there are so many things. His work with smartwater features parfait ingredients meticulously laid out on a white table. Seeds and oats fill glass prep bowls that rest on a cloth napkin, and three golden measuring spoons stand by in strict formation like fighter jets. On either side of the water bottle is a banana and a carton of berries. The arrangement is not what you’d call natural, but it is incredibly nice to look at. 

It might seem straightforward, but Cordilla’s work is loaded with details. Half of the basement in his Little Village three-flat, which he renovated with his husband James, is used to store the props he’s collected from thrift stores, artists, and antique shops over the years. When he packs for a job, he tries to bring as much with him as he can. “For every item you see in an ad, there are at least three or four times as many that don’t get used, because someone won’t be able to make up their mind until the lighting is right, or the talent will be unexpectedly wearing red, so I can’t use the red place mat. I have to be nimble when creating solutions in these settings,” Cordilla said. “From there, they’ll say ‘you’ve got 30 seconds to make this look pretty.’ It feels like a game show sometimes.”

“When you see each of the projects side by side, his specialty becomes clear—there are so many things.”

The teams that oversee these projects are big, and the roles of each member are specific. The prop stylist works alongside creative directors, photographers, and the clients themselves toward achieving the brand’s concept. A crystal ball is not in his inventory, but part of Cordilla’s job is predicting the future. Even if a client is averse to a certain color or style, he has enough experience to know that they might just need to see it in the right light, or against a certain backsplash. 

“If I can get them to commit to me bringing the things that they don’t like, knowing that they might actually like it on camera, then we can play with that a little more. That’s the long game in terms of trying to change the creative direction on something based on how I think it might look better.” It also works in reverse, Cordilla said. “I might know that something doesn’t look good, but I know that they’re going to want to see it first. I have to kind of do it their way. Then, if we still have time, I say, ‘hey, can we maybe try this background and this surface instead?’ I’m careful when I’m trying to influence an opinion.”

Cordilla’s creative freedom varies, but it’s much greater now than it was when he began his career. After graduating with a degree in advertising, he worked as an advocate for a branding agency trying to score new clients. He worked long hours and sometimes slept at his office to beat out competing agencies. Eventually, Cordilla got burnt out. “I told James, ‘I’m under your insurance now because we’re married. Can I quit? I’m gonna renovate our first floor apartment and turn it into an Airbnb.’”

The Airbnb turned out to be a fortuitous decision. When a rapper known as JTM, whose EP “I’m Not a Rapper” landed at the top of iTunes charts in 2016, asked to rent it out for a shoot, Cordilla enjoyed the collaboration. Afterwards, he was referred to another potential client. When they asked him what his rate was, he hesitated—he had no idea. He hadn’t considered that his styling might lead down a career path of its own. When he contacted a producer to figure out an appropriate rate, his opportunities began to unfold. “Is this somehing you’re interested in doing?” the producer asked, “because we’d be happy to work with you.” And so it went. “All my previous relationships turned into a foundation of people hiring me for my jobs. I couldn’t have gotten where I am now without going through any of those things with the other agencies,” Cordilla said. 

Four years after launching a successful career in prop styling, the COVID-19 pandemic brought Cordilla’s work to a halt. He hasn’t had a project since early March, when the state ordered all but essential businesses to be closed. Since then, he’s been working on exclusively creative projects with his friends at Comercio Popular, a studio in Pilsen showcasing Mexican art and design. The portraiture they shoot is intimate and colorful, and Cordilla’s influence is stark. The garments and bags of produce that adorn the models are as captivating as their gestures.

At one point in our interview, something moved in the corner of the screen. It was too small to be the poodle, which had by then vacated its armchair. “That’s my cat,” he said, getting up again. It briefly evaded him before he snatched it from the window sill. Logan, a hairless Sphynx cat with striking blue eyes, is one of Cordillas most frequent subjects. “He’s what I call my evergreen content,” Cordilla said, as Logan writhed in his arms. Cordilla flipped him and cradled him to prolong their time together. “I’m like that annoying kid who shouldn’t be around animals, because they want to get away from me and I don’t let them.” But Cordilla couldn’t resist. Eventually, Logan did get away, jumping out of frame and disappearing among all of the things.