Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521244
8 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 4 Griselda was a fascinating project. The creators of Narcos invited me to pitch my ideas for a new series. The scripts were inspired by the life of Griselda Blanco, a powerful female drug dealer who built the most significant drug cartel in history and became the first drug-dealing billionaire. The series is set in Miami in the 1970s and 1980s. The design would be a fantastic challenge, and I was excited to tackle it. Immediately, I assembled a core crew that would be able to take on the one hundred ninety sets that the scripts demanded. The crew included Art Directors Jakub Durkoth, Bruce Buhner and Gary MacMonnies, Set Designer Adriana Dardas and set decorator Kim Leonard, who I had already worked with on Counterpart for STARZ and MRC. We started to research the look and feel of Miami in the late 1970s. We had all seen movies and shows based in Miami in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Today, Miami looks very different from fifty years ago. Every decade, the skyline has become taller and taller. One of the reasons was that many drug lords started to invest in real estate since they had too much money. Flagship stores boomed and car dealerships imported expensive supercars that might not have been available elsewhere in the United States. The mega-rich would spend so-called "fuck-you-money" as if there was no tomorrow. Many of these movies had typical elements: A lot of pink was used, and one would see a lot of "Tropical Deco." I wanted to create a distinct look that would feel like Florida and Miami without using too many of these typical elements. Instead of "Tropical Deco," A n A r c h i t e c t u r a l A p p r o a c h t o P e r i o d G R I S E L D A B Y K N U T L O E W E , P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R A