{"id":170062,"date":"2026-04-21T10:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=170062"},"modified":"2026-05-22T16:13:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:13:03","slug":"gideon-ponte-on-his-cerebral-approach-to-set-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=170062","title":{"rendered":"Gideon Ponte on His Cerebral Approach to Set Design"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><em>Behind the Image is an ongoing MODELS.com series taking a more personal look at both established and emerging creative talent.<\/em><\/p>\n<style>\n.quote {\nline-height: 1.2em !important;\npadding: 35px 25px;\n}\n.wp-caption {\n    margin-top: 65px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141369\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141369\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/gideon-.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1660\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170064\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/gideon-.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/gideon--592x640.jpg 592w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/gideon--1184x1280.jpg 1184w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/gideon--1421x1536.jpg 1421w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141369\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/gideon-ponte\">Gideon Ponte<\/a> | Image courtesy of Magnet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/gideon-ponte\">Gideon Ponte<\/a>, Set Designer<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Hometown:<\/strong> London, England<br \/>\n<strong>Representation: <\/strong><a href=\"\/\/models.com\/agency\/Magnet\">Magnet<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>How would you describe your work? What\u2019s your trademark?<\/strong><br \/>\n1. Import and export \u2013 fracture, craft, theft.<br \/>\n2. Discarded images, orphaned images<br \/>\n3. We have GPS, but we can no longer get lost.<br \/>\n4. Bad art, ad hocism.<br \/>\n5. Interesting or wrong.<br \/>\n6. High and low art. Taste, no taste.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve always liked the Jane Bowles quote, \u201cNothing original about me except a little original sin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>I read that you began your career as a researcher in production design. What initially drew you to set design, and was there a defining moment when you realized you wanted to pursue it professionally?<\/strong><br \/>\nI went to art school in London in the 1980s, which felt like a real moment of cultural rupture. I moved to New York in 1987 to try my luck, and it was an extraordinary time when the art world, fashion, film, and music were all bouncing off each other. I started out working for galleries, but I gradually realized I was missing the act of making things. I can be quite cerebral, but I am also drawn to the process of discovery that comes through building and experimenting. My break came when Mary Harron made <em>I Shot Andy Warhol<\/em>. I initially worked as an art department researcher, and that eventually led to recreating all the artwork for the film. That was the moment when it really clicked that this could become a profession.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You designed <em>American Psycho<\/em>, a film that remains endlessly referenced for its aesthetic. Could you walk us through your collaboration with Mary Harron on that movie? What conversations shaped the visual language of Patrick Bateman\u2019s world?<\/strong><br \/>\nMary (Harron) and I were friends long before we worked together. She\u2019s incredibly smart and very clear about what she wants, and my job is to take ideas that might exist as just a line in the script and turn them into an architectural space. With <em>American Psycho<\/em>, a lot of our conversations were about absence. Bateman is essentially a void. His world is all projection, surface, and image, with no real trace of personality underneath. The spaces needed to reflect that blankness. To be honest, it was a massive leap of faith for me, and I\u2019ll always be grateful to Mary for giving me the opportunity. The process was really about research, looking very broadly at everything from bad commercial imagery and snapshots to strong documentary sources. Somewhere between those references, we found the film\u2019s visual language and point of view.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Much of your work involves building environments that frame and elevate a narrative. When you approach a shoot or project, where does your inspiration typically begin? <\/strong><br \/>\nI\u2019m usually working from a brief, and my first response is often to come back with references. Part of the process is building consensus, making the invisible visible, and building imaginary worlds, the beautiful, the ordinary, and the stupid. At the same time, I have to collaborate closely with other filmmakers and creatives so that the set is not only visually interesting but also functional and practical to shoot. One way I do that is by drawing and producing 3D imagery of the set, thinking through how the space will actually work. This kind of previsualization is relatively new. It can, at times, take a little of the performative, live nature out of the process, but the scale of the fashion industry has grown enormously since many of us started. Now it\u2019s normal to run multiple sets consecutively and produce far more material, campaigns, social content, behind-the-scenes, and still life, all within the same project.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You\u2019ve collaborated with different brands like <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/yves-saint-laurent\">Saint Laurent,<\/a> <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/gucci\">Gucci,<\/a> and <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/valentino\">Valentino<\/a> through the years. What\u2019s your collaborative process like?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe process has changed a bit over time. When I started, I very much worked for the photographer, and in my mind, I still do. They are usually my first call when I hit a wall or am trying to solve something. More recently, designers like myself are often brought into conversations earlier, sometimes directly with the creative directors at the brands, which is great and very inspiring. It makes the collaboration broader from the beginning. In the end, we are relied on to create. Our skill set is taking inspiration and running with it, turning ideas into something physical. And it is always a collective effort. I work with collaborators all over the world, including my art department producer, Jenn Lee; construction teams; set decorators; lead men; greensmen; set dressers; and FX teams. And importantly, my agent at Magnet, who truly built my career.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You\u2019ve spoken about the evolution of craft on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DVTUY_BjcfG\/?img_index=1\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Instagram<\/a> from hand-drawing sets to working with CAD and Vectorworks. How has technology changed your process, and do you feel anything has been lost or gained in that shift?<\/strong><br \/>\nWe\u2019re at an inflection point, and I\u2019m not sure any of us fully know what comes next. Moving from hand drawing sets to CAD and Vectorworks has made the process faster, more explicit, and easier to communicate. But something has been lost, too. When you drew everything by hand, there was room for the ideas to breathe, grow, and evolve. It\u2019s ironic because the ideas that shaped the 1990s, cyberpunk, William Gibson and the notion of simulacra, imagined a world where reality would be mediated through images. That\u2019s essentially the world we live in now. As image makers, we\u2019re reflecting that culture, but sometimes I wonder if we\u2019re also circling back to an older mindset, the 1980s \u201cgreed is good\u201d era, and Patrick Bateman for president.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who\u2019s one to watch?<\/strong><br \/>\nAs for who of the younger generation I\u2019m looking at, there\u2019s a whole new generation coming up, and it\u2019s great. It\u2019s their turn. I\u2019m so lucky to have come across so many wildly talented people along the way, who brought so much to the sets and then went on to have their own amazing careers. I think this time is an inflection point, and I\u2019m very interested in how artists start to reflect it. The whole world feels like it\u2019s under a psychological experiment. Engineers may have built these new modern systems, but artists are needed to make sense of them. There is a real difference.<\/p>\n<h3>Selected Work<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/012_AP1151168.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1266\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170066\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/012_AP1151168.png 1800w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/012_AP1151168-640x450.png 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/012_AP1151168-1280x900.png 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/012_AP1151168-1536x1080.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nVilma Sj\u00f6berg by Glen Luchford | Image courtesy of Magnet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/self-service-bol\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bold for Self Service<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nA photograph is a flat 2D space that you can play with to fool the eye. The trick is visible, and that is what makes it charming. The background is a painted backdrop. We built the balloon basket out of rope, an old laundry basket, and a hoop. We had a box underneath to support the weight, which was removed in post. It is fun to create these playful images that sit between imagination and the real.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-20-at-4.37.55\u202fPM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"424\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170068\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-20-at-4.37.55\u202fPM.png 660w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-20-at-4.37.55\u202fPM-640x411.png 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nBy Glen Luchford | Image courtesy of Magnet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/gucci-gucci-pre-fall-2018-campaign\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gucci Pre-Fall 2018 Campaign<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nWorking with <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/glen-luchford\">Glen Luchford<\/a> and <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/client\/gucci\">Gucci,<\/a> we rode a wave. Each season, the campaigns grew bigger and more extravagant. It was a great ride.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/GP_067.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"794\" height=\"631\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170067\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/GP_067.jpg 794w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/GP_067-640x509.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 794px) 100vw, 794px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nEugenia Volodina by Steven Meisel | Image courtesy of Magnet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/vogue-italia-exclusivity-couture-1\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Exclusivity Couture for Vogue Italia<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nPhotographed after 9\/11, I was, in my own way, trying to express what I had seen. I was living in NYC on that day, and one of the planes flew overhead; it sounded terrible. I built a few structures and had no idea what to do with them until I got the studio and assembled a kind of assault course. <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/Gucci-SS-19-Campaign-Photo-by-Glen-Luchford-Creative-Director-Alessandro-Michele-Art-Director-Christopher-Simmonds-1-1200x777-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"777\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170069\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/Gucci-SS-19-Campaign-Photo-by-Glen-Luchford-Creative-Director-Alessandro-Michele-Art-Director-Christopher-Simmonds-1-1200x777-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/Gucci-SS-19-Campaign-Photo-by-Glen-Luchford-Creative-Director-Alessandro-Michele-Art-Director-Christopher-Simmonds-1-1200x777-1-640x414.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nBy Glen Luchford | Image courtesy of Magnet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/gucci-gucci-ss-19\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gucci S\/S 19<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nGucci showtime peak extravaganza, a fever dream, it was a love letter to a kind of filmmaking that is almost extinct, not sure I know how to unpack it. <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/2782266-800w.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1085\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170092\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/2782266-800w.jpg 800w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/2782266-800w-472x640.jpg 472w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nEugenia Volodina by Steven Meisel | Image courtesy of Magnet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/dolce--gabbana-fall--winter-2003\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dolce &#038; Gabbana F\/W 2003<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nThe set is inspired by Kubrick&#8217;s<em> 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em>; rather than using milk glass on the floor, I used transparent glass so the viewer could see all the cables, construction materials, and the fluorescent tubes. This made it more utilitarian and stripped back, which I really like. <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141376\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141376\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2021-05-11-at-00.27.13.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"277\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170072\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>\nChristian Bale by Mary Hannon | Image courtesy of Magnet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=81mibtQWWBg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-video-0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">American Psycho<\/a><\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nI finished work on <em>Buffalo 66 <\/em> and went into <em>American Psycho<\/em>, very grateful for both projects, both very different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Behind the Image is an ongoing MODELS.com series taking a more personal look at both established and emerging creative talent. Gideon Ponte, Set Designer Hometown: London, England Representation: Magnet How would you describe your work? What\u2019s your trademark? 1. Import and export \u2013 fracture, craft, theft. 2. Discarded images, orphaned images 3. We have GPS,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":170064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12752,13941,10414,16,13943],"tags":[12930,13154,8930,15312],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/450"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170062"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170094,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170062\/revisions\/170094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/170064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}