Nathalie Crinière on Scenography and Setting the Stage

Scenographer and Knowledge of Design Week keynote speaker NATHALIE CRINIÈRE reveals what it takes to become an exhibition designer and how she keeps her work exciting.

When it comes to defining a mood, painting a scene and generally creating a vision for large-scale projects, whether it’s a performance, a stage or a high-end event, no one does it better than French scenographer Nathalie Crinière. The architect and founder of L’Agence NC in Paris is the mastermind behind myriad exhibitions by French fashion brands and has created backdrops and stage sets for cultural landmarks that include the Louvre in Abu Dhabi and the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

What motivated you to become a scenographer? 

It was the idea that all the projects will be new, as the subject of the scenography changes every time. You’ll learn a lot from the curator and you’ll never get bored.

Being a scenographer today is very much in fashion, but it wasn’t always the case. When I began my studies, there weren’t any schools for exhibition design, so I studied industrial design in Les Arts Deco in Paris and interior design in L’École Boulle, a good choice because it opened up my mind.

The Galerie Dior on Avenue Montaigne is one of your most defining works. Tell us about the process of that design.

The particularity of this project is that it takes place in the exact spot where Christian Dior himself created his own maison de couture, and where the house’s current designers who’ve succeeded him since then have continued to work in the atelier to realise high-fashion dresses. It’s a place that combines the past and future, and where the walls speak. If you take into account everything that’s happened in this building, you’re able to create a scenography with a soul. It’s a domestic place, and you can feel it in the proportions. It’s as if Christian Dior were inviting you to his home and you can share with him an intimate journey.

What was your favourite moment designing the Cartier exhibition at the Hong Kong Palace Museum last year?

My absolute favourite moment was just to be in the Hong Kong Palace Museum. I love discovering a place with a story and a specific architecture that you need to tame before drawing anything. The Cartier collection is a very precious jewellery collection, but the art pieces are very small in a three-dimensional space. For us it was about finding the right scale to organise a dialogue between this fabulous jewellery and this incredible historical palace.

What’s the most important aspect of staging exhibitions for luxury brands? 

Never forget that you’re not the curator. As a scenographer, I’m listening to people who are in charge of the content and who know perfectly their subject, and I create a space with this story. As soon you have a story to set, you can realise a beautiful scenography. For me, it’s important to understand the story and find it interesting, otherwise you may have a nice design, but it has nothing to say. This is something that stays with me from the beginning. My job is to play with the story and combine it with the space.

Why did you set up your own company, L’Agence NC, in 2000?

My mother was an architect and had her own office. Since I started my studies, I wanted to set up my own office so I could be free to do what I want. When you have your own office, you remain fragile all your life, because everything can stop tomorrow, but it makes you very combative and very alert and you’re always interested in what you’re doing. 

What advice do you have for young people who are interested in scenography?

Nothing can be taken for granted. You may run into very bad times, but the good times will make you forget them, even when you’ve lost 20 comPetitions in a row. It’s a wonderful job but don’t forget that comPetition is tough. You can be fashionable one day and not the next day. You’ll always have to fight – being second is not an option.

Why is it important to have events like Knowledge of Design Week?

It’s important because it shows you different approaches in the same field. Not all exhibition designers see the process of their work in the same way as I do. Some take time over the details, others do a lot of research, others are very conceptual, whereas I’m more intuitive. An event like this shows you that there isn’t only one way of thinking, and that’s what makes it so rich. 

(Header image: Nathalie Crinière and graphic designer Laurent Ungerer at InnoDesign Leadership Forum)