Congratulations to Set Decorator Gina Cromwell SDSA and Production Designer Will Hughes-Jones for their Emmy, BFDG and SDSA Awards nominations for BRIDGERTON - exceedingly well deserved!
 
We again invited SDSA Executive Director Gene Cane, a confessed Anglophile who co-hosted our interview with Gina for the DOWNTON ABBEY film*, to join in a chat with her about the runaway Netiflix hit BRIDGERTON. You will be able to watch the interview later this Spring here and on the SETDECOR YouTube channel, but we couldn’t wait that long to give you some glimpses behind-the-scenes as well as the sets in full use!
 
Thank you to Gina, Gene and the Netflix team.
We know you’ll enjoy!
Karen Burg, Editor

Bridgerton Morning Room/Drawing Room...In the opening episode, Daphne [Phoebe Dynevor] and her mother Violet, Viscountess Dowager Bridgerton [Ruth Gemmell], read the latest gossip as presented in the scandal sheet ‘Lady Whistledown News’. The palette of the home interiors carries over to costumes as well. Photo by Liam Daniel ©2020 Netflix.

 
Set Decorator Gina Cromwell SDSA, Production Designer Will Hughes-Jones and their teams thread storylines with depictions of stately homes, genteel parlors, artsy salons, gentleman's clubs, bespoke shops, lush gardens and estates, even  Buckingham Palace, as we eagerly follow young  Daphne  and dashing  Lord Hastings  as they navigate a very orderly world populated with some very disorderly people. The settings, stories and visuals are lavish, luxurious, steamy and sexy, with some intrigue and social consciousness and the gossip of  Lady Whistledown  added in...sets in grand locations and soundstage builds of equally grand proportions. BRIDGERTON, a smashing success, surprised many with its popularity, but just one look takes you in, finding your favorite player and hoping for an invitation to tea with  The Bridgertons. --Gene Cane

Bridgerton Morning Room/Drawing Room...Mood board. Wedgewood blue and white are the key colors of the Bridgerton Family, elegance and simplicity rule the established family’s home. The mood board captures the refinement and grace, along with eclectic furnishings added through years of inheritance. Courtesy of Netflix.

Bridgerton Morning Room...With a longer shooting schedule for series, Cromwell knew purchasing many furniture items would be more budget friendly than rentals. Scouring estate sales, antique shops and flea markets Cromwell & team found all her pieces.. Adding height to the legs of chairs and sofas for better ease for the actors, extensive reupholstery, painting and gold leafing kept artisans busy.Inset: Daphne and younger sister Eloise/ Phoebe Dynevor, Claudia Jessie. Photos by Liam Daniel ©2020 Netflix.

Bridgerton Morning Room/Drawing Room...Reverse view. Built on a soundstage, here BTS with furniture pads, etc. Cromwell notes, “It literally is like a double room, and actually quite a lovely room. It’s so calming to be in there.” She found many of chandeliers at Les Puces, the grand market in Paris, along with candelabras and other exquisite small pieces. The 18th c pianoforte came from British antique dealer Ian Pleath. The portraits were created in the blues and greys of the Bridgerton family palette. Photo courtesy of Netflix.

Bridgerton house, Anthony’s Study....A masculine retreat. After the death of Viscount Bridgerton, eldest son Anthony has become the man of the house. His study is packed with books carefully arranged. The green marble desk & mantle pieces would have come in sets: the clock flanked by lion bookends on the mantle echoed by the inkwell and pair of candelabra dressing the desk. Distinctive urns foliate rather than floral drapery, liquor decanters and leather chairs complement the man of the house. Photo by Liam Daniel ©2020 Netflix.

Daphne’s Bedroom/Dressing Room Suite...Mood Board. The suite follows the palette and patterns of much of the rest of the house, but with a heightened femininity. Embroidered fabrics, puddling drapery in floral and scroll designs, dressing table and dressing screen that every Lady of any age should have. Courtesy of Netflix.

Daphne’s Bedroom...Sumptuous fabrics and bedding, this room was a lavish stage build Gold leaf and pink add to the blue and white. A grand festooned coronet and curtained bed sits between scrolled gold-filleted framed mythology pictures. Walls are wainscoting with large fabric panels topped with decorative border under cornice. Check Part 2 for more of Daphne’s suite. Photo by Liam Daniel ©2020 Netflix.

Eloise’s Bedroom...Mood Board. It has been suggested that perhaps Eloise had gone through the house and pulled items that represented her, not those a young lady “should”., These designs show a spirit who doesn’t care to conform. And perhaps some red herring hints of the mysterious Lady Whistledown, including journals and a telescope...for the night sky or for spy craft? Courtesy of Netflix.

Eloise’s Bedroom...Almost masculine, certainly for the time, with cupboards of books in disarray, neutral tone drapery. While she does exhibit some standard feminine bits...flowers, marble bust...she also keeps armillary, astrolabe and the aforementioned telescope. Notice the cheval mirror used for a bulletin board rather than vanity, the furniture often unpainted, unadorned. Courtesy of Netflix.

Featherington Entrance Hall...Constructed on a sound stage, raised plaster ornamentation adorn the walls, as the nouveau riche Featherington Family does not have much in ancestral portraiture. A strong green (the color of envy) and yellow palette speaks volumes. Decorative iron butterflies flit among the balustrade. Once again, the color palette for the family carries over to costumes. Inset: Harriet Cains, Bessie Carter, Nicola Coughlan as the Featherington sisters: Phillips, Prudence & Penelope. Photos by Liam Daniel ©2020 Netflix.

Featherington Salon...An over-the-top interior design for Lady Featherngton, nothing like the more elegant and staid Bridgertons...shiny gold, trendy Egyptian revival furniture choices, fabrics with a bit too much sheen.Candles in the sconces and candelabra are slightly crooked showing a lack of attention to the small details. Inset: Nicola Coughlan. Photos by Liam Daniel ©2020 Netflix.

Granville Townhouse...The city abode of free spirit artiste Sir Henry Granville, somewhat classical, almost bohemian. Drapery that resembles ink blot psych tests, accessories from around the world. Candles perch on scales, but Granville’s life it seems is not that balanced. Photo by Liam Daniel ©2020 Netflix.

For more photos, click below...

*For DOWNTON ABBEY article, click here!