Es Devlin

Esmeralda Devlin (; born 24 September 1971) is an English artist and stage designer who works in a range of media, often mapping light and projected film onto kinetic sculptural forms. She has received several accolades including a Tony Award and two Olivier Awards. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 by Queen Elizabeth II for services to design. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.

Devlin is known for her extensive work in the theatre. For her work in the West End she won two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Set Design for '' Chimerica'' (2014), and '' The Nether'' (2015). She was Olivier-nominated for ''Hamlet'' (2016), '' The Lehman Trilogy'' (2019), and '' Dear England'' (2024). For her work on Broadway she won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play for ''The Lehman Trilogy'' (2022). She was Tony-nominated for '' Machinal'' (2014), and ''American Psycho'' (2016). She is also known for her '' The Hunt'' (2019) and '' The Motive and the Cue'' (2023).

Early life and education

Devlin was born in Kingston upon Thames, London, on 24 September 1971. She attended Cranbrook School, Kent.

She studied English literature at Bristol University, followed by a Foundation Course in Fine Art at Central St. Martin's eventually specialising in theatre design. While undertaking her studies, she prepared the props for Le Cirque Invisible, the circus company founded by Victoria Chaplin and Chaplin's husband, Jean-Baptiste Thierrée.

Career

Es Devlin's career began in narrative theatre and experimental opera, with early work at London's Bush Theatre. In 1998, she made her National Theatre debut when Trevor Nunn invited her to design the set for Harold Pinter's Betrayal. Since then, Devlin has gained a reputation for her sculptural and innovative designs for the stage.

In 2003, she ventured into concert design with her first collaboration, working with the band Wire. In 2005, Kanye West hired her to design his Touch the Sky tour, marking the start of a long-term collaboration, which continued with his Glow in the Dark and Watch the Throne tours.

In 2012, Devlin designed the scenic elements for the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. Four years later, in 2016, she created the set design for the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics.

Her work on installations also began gaining attention, with her 2016 installation Mirrormaze in Peckham drawing large crowds. In 2017, she designed the Singing Tree at the Victoria and Albert Museum, an interactive machine-learning-based installation, viewed by over 10,000 visitors during Christmas. That same year, she created Room2022, a 7,000 square-foot installation at Art Basel Miami.

In 2018, Devlin's Fifth Lion installation in Trafalgar Square, which roared AI-generated poetry to crowds, was a highlight of the London Design Festival. Also in 2018, she collaborated with theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli on a performance of The Order of Time, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch at BOLD Tendencies in Peckham. Later that year, she designed MASK, a projection-mapped model city displayed at Somerset House.

In 2019, Devlin delivered a talk at the TED Conference in Vancouver titled Mind-blowing sculptures that fuse art & technology, which was selected by TED curator Chris Anderson as one of the best talks of the year. She also worked on The Hunt, a play directed by Rupert Goold, which premiered in London and transferred to St. Ann's Warehouse in New York in 2024.

Devlin's career took on international projects, including designing the UK Pavilion at the 2020 World Expo in Dubai, making her the first woman to receive such a commission since the inception of world expositions in 1851.

In 2021, her collaboration with rapper Dave and producer Fraser T. Smith won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song. She also co-designed the Brit Awards statuettes with artist Yinka Ilori.

In 2022, Devlin's work on the Super Bowl Halftime Show, featuring Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, and Eminem, earned her three Emmy Awards, including one for Best Production Design. That same year, her scenic design for Adele's performance at Griffith Observatory won five additional Emmy Awards. Her scenic design for The Lehman Trilogy, directed by Sam Mendes, won her the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design.

Throughout her career, Devlin has collaborated on large-scale stage designs for artists including Beyoncé, Adele, U2, The Weeknd, Lorde, and Pet Shop Boys and worked with institutions such as the Royal Opera House in London.

Style

The Poem Pavilion she designed at the 2020 World Expo in Dubai - following the UK's theme "Innovating for a Shared Future" - featured an illuminated "message to space" to which each of the Expo's million visitors would be invited to contribute.

Using plastic trees, sellotape, stretchy mirrored sheeting, string, she builds "dream-like constellation of things" explaining that “the piece happens between those objects,”

"Each of her designs is an attack on the notion that a set is merely scenery" wrote Andrew O'Hagan in ''The New Yorker'' in 2016. Devlin "is in demand because she can enter the psychic ether of each production and make it glow with significance." For Hamlet director Lyndsey Turner, Devlin “doesn't design what a play wants but what it needs.”

Recognition

* 2006: Olivier Awards for Best Costume Design for ''The Dog in the Manger''
* 2014-2015: Olivier Awards for Best Set Design for '' Chimerica'' (2014) and '' The Nether'' (2015)
* 2015: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
* 2018: Royal Designer for Industry for Theatre Design
* 2022: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to design

* Fellow of University of the Arts London

Devlin is the subject of episode three of the Netflix documentary series '' Abstract: The Art of Design''.

Work

Theatre

Television

Concert

Fashion

Publication

Exhibition

Accolades

Personal life

Devlin is married to the theatrical costume designer Jack Galloway; they have two children and live in London. Her husband works on ''The Lion King Musical'' franchise.

References

External links

*
Video: Interview with Es Devlin for the Royal Opera House

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devlin, Es
English costume designers
English scenic designers
Living people
1971 births
Alumni of Central Saint Martins
Alumni of the University of Bristol
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Laurence Olivier Award winners
People educated at Cranbrook School, Kent
People from Kingston upon Thames
British women costume designers
Scenographers
Tony Award winners
BRIT Award trophy designers
Royal Designers for Industry