Art / London
Sets to stun
Ahead of unveiling a new artwork for Photo London, the artist – and world’s finest set designer – Es Devlin talks inspiration, hating doors and dreaming of a world in miniature.
“Hang on,” says Es Devlin before we start our interview, “I’ll just get some paper.” For two hours Devlin sketches, sketches, sketches while she speaks and we never once see a mobile phone in her hand or hear one ring in her studio. It is, nonetheless, a-bustle, staffed by six full-time designers talking, cutting and pasting, sat equally at screens and at tables with tools in hand. Always working from her Scotch-tape- and spray-can-stuffed studios in south London, Devlin has been the world’s pre-eminent set designer for more than a decade, making…
