Fiona Crombie’s production designer “Cruella” was working on almost 100 sets to achieve the multifaceted vintage style of London from the 1970s. Crombie studied old photographs of abandoned locks in London on a Thames River, and she and her friends Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser took them out from little Estellas / Cruella house and lair. The Baroness’ warehouse, by comparison, is bright, bright, and monochrome – another location for the London designer Emma stone Thompson’s fashion designer. She intended them as a cultural and generational collision, Baroness’ past and Cruella’s future. Crombie explains her methodology and the concepts behind the set for Craig Gillespie’s original narrative in Disney Plus, currently in theatres.

This is what the script named the lair. When they’re youngsters, you first see that set. What I appreciated, in particular, was the development. In the beginning, it begins in a manner like a nest. It’s gorgeous and funny. The notion was that this isn’t a frightening place; it’s just a place you’d want to be. And how these children adjust space is ingenious. These children are clutching this and are in charge of going about London, which subsequently shows how they move about as grownups.

And the little Estella, she’s made of costumes and clothing. Jasper loves to play music. Even though it was in the seventies, the way we view London was not formed. Many vacant locks existed, and structures were not built. We worked with these enormous structures architecturally, but they were left behind. History and character were about giving everything. What are they sitting on? 

What do they sit on? Where did this come from? You can view history as if it had been a wall. There is a lovely ceiling in the front room, and you get a feeling that it was a great setting. We worked a lot on paint, and we got layers to paint and remove. I just wanted it to be gentle. She is very graphic. So, I was playing against the visual appearance of Cruella. This setting was supposed to represent a house and a nest. Craig wanted to ensure that the beauty and openness, a mystical quality, were present.”

Warehouse of Baroness

“It’s this huge workroom with all the work tables and everyone who collects them. It was an entertainment set to create and detail. The scissors and the pencils and the bits and pieces contained so much information. It was this monochrome-controlled space. That is quite well-ordered, totally unlike the events of the lair.”

Tribute to entertainment

“A complete duplicate of the animation in Roger’s flat — all the details down to the cup. This is a whole tribute. We have found music dispersed around it, and you can view the certifications. It was this to find the identical cups and the same headgear. It was a search for riches.