Design Better – Fiona Crombie: Academy Award-nominated Production Designer on Storytelling Without Words
Release Date: March 4, 2026
Hosts: Eli Woolery & Aaron Walter
Guest: Fiona Crombie, Production Designer (The Favourite, Hamnet)
Episode Overview
This episode dives deep into the craft of production design with Fiona Crombie, whose recent work on the Oscar-nominated film Hamnet garnered widespread acclaim. Hosts Eli Woolery and Aaron Walter explore how production design impacts storytelling, the intersection between design roles in film and tech, and the collaborative process of bringing a director’s vision to life. Crombie unpacks her journey from initial ideas to immersive set environments, highlighting the non-verbal power of physical spaces in narrative meaning.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
The Role and Art of Production Design
- Defining the Discipline
Fiona Crombie explains that a production designer is responsible for "everything that is in a frame. So within every frame of film that is not a costume." (03:42) This includes landscape, architecture, props—down to "the specific curve of a spoon or the texture of a tablecloth." (00:38) - Storytelling Without Words
Crombie frames her craft as “an opportunity to storytell without words” (03:58), using the visual world to reflect characters’ interior lives and larger story arcs.
Pathways & Skills for Production Designers
- Diverse Backgrounds
Many come through the art department; Crombie herself began as a theatre designer.
Influences: Deep engagement with text, an imaginative leap from words to space, practical management (budgets, schedules), and—most of all—communication."One of the key skills... is your ability to communicate, because you're taking something that is amorphous... and ultimately speaking to people who have to realize that." (05:29)
Early Involvement in the Production Process
- From Concept to Collaboration
Crombie is usually brought in "quite early, so I will be one of the first hires, usually. So after there's a script, sometimes I'm on before it's actually green lit..." (06:42)
Design helps determine a project’s scope, viability, and methodology, shaping vital early decisions (location vs. studio builds, budgeting). - Building the Team and Vision
Initial prep involves solo reference-gathering and research; the team and complexity ramp up over time.
Creative Discovery: Inspiration, Mood, and Visual Mapping
- First Encounters
Crombie was drawn to Hamnet both as a reader and upon reading its script, connecting instantly with the material:"The textures and the things that I wanted to explore with the architecture... I was connected to the sense of having an opportunity to talk about a family and make a period film... that is really a domestic [story]." (08:25)
- Reference Materials and Visual Statements
She assembles detailed PDFs or keynotes—collections of paintings, photography, sketches—that articulate the film’s mood and episodic journey."They're very much about initial impulses... I can see the palette of the film quite quickly from what I'm drawn to immediately..." (10:35)
Moving from Concepts to Reality
- Artifacts and Prototyping
- Early artifacts mirror product design: images for mood, followed by computer or hand drawings.
- Physical models (including white card models of sets like the Globe Theatre) and digital models are used for technical planning and to help all collaborators, including directors and cinematographers, understand the space.
"We'll also build white car models. I think they're so useful..." (11:54)
- Technical drawings/plans are essential for communication with directors and production crew.
The Designer’s Ongoing Inspiration and Archive
- Constant Visual Collection
Crombie highlights her habit of archiving details, textures, and “badly framed” reference photos."If we opened up your photos app, would it just be like a bajillion photos of interesting items?"
"Yeah, but really badly framed... I'm too busy doing some, like, little engraving that's in the corner somewhere." (13:12)
Impact on Performers & Authenticity
- Sets as Actor Support
Detailed, authentic environments support actors in inhabiting roles believably."I love handing the set over... and seeing them just take it on and inhabit it and suddenly look like they've lived there forever." (14:16)
- Crombie shares a story from theatre reinforcing the importance of practical, immersive design:
"The doors were not practical... [an actress] went to the cupboard, and she could not open the cupboard, and she went crazy. And that's never happened again." (14:36)
Striving for Authenticity & ‘Rawness’ in Hamnet
- Avoiding Artifice
Director Chloe Zhao insisted on shooting on location and building only essential parts (notably the Globe) to avoid an artificial look."She's allergic to artifice... she was really afraid that we would make something that just looked twee or fake." (15:50)
- Mixing Sets and Locations
After extensive location scouting, they opted to build major interiors (e.g., Henley Street house) for narrative and practical reasons, while rooting the film’s visuals in real landscapes for authenticity.
Nature as Character
- The Forest and the Tree
The team found an extraordinary tree in a private forest, which then “took on more and more meaning” (17:53). Crombie details how the forest and cave environments became central to Hamnet’s symbolic world."We wanted to create this sort of nest where she would give birth... she had her secret world as well. Like, she hid objects in the roots and we did all of that. It’s her domain there, and it was just something that evolved..." (18:40)
- Themes of Death and Memory
She deliberately infused sets with “black holes”— architectural voids signifying death or transition, adding layers of meaning to otherwise domestic spaces.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Chloe Zhao’s Collaborative Process
"Chloe invited collaboration and the film was really a process of discovery... Everybody was every day taking care of each other. We all knew we were experiencing something together."
(00:01) – Fiona Crombie -
Defining Production Design
"It's everything you see in the frame that isn't a costume."
(00:25) – Eli Woolery -
Connecting Instinct to Visuals
"Words will prompt me to imagine or to kind of have a sense of what I think something should feel like or look like. And it's not crystal clear, it's just like a very sort of sketchy response."
(05:07) – Fiona Crombie -
On Visual Mood Boards
"I love a PDF... I can lay up a keynote beautifully... They're a collection of drawings, paintings, photography, things that I think are telling me... something about the story..."
(10:06) – Fiona Crombie -
On Authenticity and Sets
"My favorite kind of work is when you get to do both. So you've got locations and you've got set builds and you're calibrating. And so you're always referring back from one to the other and making sure that you're making a film that hangs together visually."
(16:58) – Fiona Crombie -
On Nature as a Story Element
"That tree with the hole was a discovery that then, of course, took on more and more meaning through the course of our pre production... The forest is a private estate... we wanted to create this sort of nest where she would give birth and a place that she would gravitate towards..."
(17:53) – Fiona Crombie -
On Visualizing Grief and Transition
"I always felt really strongly about this idea of these kind of black holes. I wanted the house to have a sense that... the idea of death just peering out at you at any given moment was something that I felt really strongly about..."
(18:54) – Fiona Crombie -
On Emotional Layering in Space
"It felt really layered."
(19:31) – Aaron Walter
Timestamps: Important Segments
- 00:01 — Fiona Crombie on Chloe Zhao’s collaborative leadership
- 03:42 — What is a production designer?
- 06:42 — Early involvement in film projects and team assembly
- 08:02 — Crombie’s emotional connection to Hamnet’s story
- 10:06 — Using PDFs and keynotes as visual prompt-books
- 11:43 — Models, plans, and moving from reference to built environment
- 13:12 — Crombie’s perpetual collection of visual references
- 14:16 — Sets enhancing actor performance and authenticity
- 15:50 — Pursuit of authenticity: Set builds vs. on-location
- 17:53 — The forest, nature as character, and symbolic set design
- 18:54 — Metaphors of grief: "black holes" in domestic space
Conclusion
This episode offers an insightful, evocative look at the intelligence, meticulous craft, and layered meaning production design brings to cinematic storytelling. Fiona Crombie’s process connects emotion, environment, and collaboration—demonstrating that extraordinary storytelling often happens without a single word.