Shona Heath is an Oscar-winning multidisciplinary designer whose work in set and production design has graced films and publications across fashion, art, and cinema. Imaginative and expansive, her sets—spanning a wide variety of genres and visual styles—have established her as one of the most in-demand creatives in today’s media landscape.
While she may be less familiar to some audiences by name, her work is almost certainly widely recognised: her collaborations with photographers such as Tim Walker; campaigns for luxury houses including Prada, Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton, and Hermès; editorial work for publications such as Vogue and DUST; and, most notably, her Academy Award-winning Poor Things set design that helped shape the surreal aesthetic of the Yorgos Lanthimos film.
Her remarkable ability to transform any space—whether a bare studio or an outdoor landscape—into a fully realised world of its own is underscored by a consistent emotional and visual tension: tenderness intertwined with grit. The result is a form of storytelling that feels both enticing and uneasy, leaving viewers unable to look away.
In this conversation, Heath reflects on her creative journey, taking risks, embracing authenticity, and choosing the references that informed the production design for Poor Things.
hube: Your work often sits between reality and fantasy—how do you find the balance between the two?
Shona Heath: Every idea of fantasy starts as a response to reality, so the balance is always there in some way. Some kind of comparison to the known or the grounded often helps fantasy really shine. I find this balancing act quite fun. While I’m designing or making, reality and unreality reveal themselves when and if they’re needed. If I had to put it into percentages… It is 70 percent vague reality (or some kind of materiality) and 30 percent intense fantasy.
h: Looking back, was there a specific moment or decision that led you into this field, or did it emerge more gradually through different interests coming together?
SH: I was working as a costume designer for an artistic duo, where my work was really shaped by their aesthetic, and I felt my own voice growing stronger. As I grew impatient, an opportunity with my friend came up, and I decided to make a paper set for a photoshoot. My mum used to make beautiful paper sculptures as decorations from a book (I still have it), and I just assumed I could do the same. I think watching her do so many different crafts so well made me grow up believing it was basically a birthright!
In reality, it’s more of a slapdash approach that lets you move forward a bit faster. That’s why I love working at the scale of sets—they are human-sized and not fiddly. Ironically, I also get to work with and make miniatures, which I love, but they bring me closest to violence—your hands are just too big, and every sneeze or wobble is catastrophic.
Photography by TIM GUTT
Photography by TIM WALKER
Set Design by SHONA HEATH
