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P E R S P E C T I V E | J U LY / AU G U S T 2 0 1 7 47 what seems like a small design detail can end up informing the overall visual concept for a project. The look of Grace and Frankie highlights the comedy of the charmingly dysfunctional characters with contrasting environments. Grace and Robert have spent thirty unhappy years raising their children while repressing their true natures. Their house was elegant but also subtly cold and uncomfortable. The house shows that neither can be themselves until they leave it behind. With that guiding concept, clean lines and expensive furnishings were used without much color or pattern. I hope the set communicates that the trappings of a successful life don't necessarily lead to personal fulfillment. Where Grace and Robert are in a cold, repressed marriage, Frankie and Sol, children of the '60s, let it all hang out. Their house is richly layered with warm colors, full of personal effects. Menorahs intermingle with erotic art and family photos. The irony of the story is that even a warm comfortable home can hide dangerous secrets. The Malibu beach house, where Grace and Frankie now live, is the breeding ground for their new friendship. It features an open floor plan with a view to the ocean for a light, airy feel that evokes the Devorah Herbert, Production Designer Michael Krantz, Gary Myers, Benjamin Edelberg, Art Directors Tracy Stone, Adee Serrao, Graphic Designers Al Hobbs, Lauren Polizzi, Julia K. Levine, Michael C. Biddle, Kristen Davis, Greg Papalia, Set Designers Beauchamp Fontaine, SDSA, Christopher Carlson, Set Decorators ocean breeze blowing through the house, bringing a sense of renewal. Every opportunity is taken in the house's design to show the personalities of these two fiercely strong women bumping up against each other. Grace, with her impeccable taste, originally decorated the house but Frankie's irrepressibly wacky style encroaches at every turn. Grace decorates with carefully coordinated blues and creams but Frankie creates her own zones within the house, pushing Grace's things aside to make room for her incense, Indonesian art and penis pottery. In Frankie's art studio, her wildly eclectic style really runs free. Season Four is shooting now and, without giving anything away, I can say that changes are afoot for our characters. It's an exciting challenge to evolve the visual storyline, along with the scripts. Stay tuned. ADG Opposite page, top: Al Hobbs drew Frankie's art studio in pencil. The building is envisioned as a converted pool house out back of the main beach house. Bottom, left and right: In Frankie's studio, her funky style runs loose within the conventional architecture of the beach house. This page above, left and right: The set for Grace and Robert's original house was designed with transitional architecture and a carefully controlled palette to evoke the lifeless chill at the heart of their marriage. Frankie and Sol Bergstein's home was decorated with warm colors and eclectic furnishings, inspired more by their travels and love of art and less by any desire to keep up with the latest style trends. Below, left and right: Frankie's penis pottery from Season One evolved into organic yam lube in Season Two and culminated in Season Three with Grace and Frankie inventing a vibrator especially for older women. Graphic designers Adee Serrao and Tracy Stone did an outstanding job with the vaginal-meets-floral design of the vibrator packaging.