Adrien Moretti

Atelier MIDI XIII

Set designer

©Adrien Moretti

©Claudine Garcia

©Ruedi Flück

©Vincent Jendly

Making imaginary worlds

Adrien creates beautiful and clever theatre sets
He is both a scenographer and a constructor
Collaboration is central to his work

Uncertain as to how his interest was first sparked, Adrien Moretti has nonetheless wanted to be a theatre set designer ever since his childhood. This love and fascination for a multifaceted art brought him to study applied arts and complete an internship in the Grand Théâtre de Genève before setting up his own business at the tender age of 22. Adrien has worked creating worlds for theatre and museums ever since, a work of collaboration both for the artistic and construction aspects that necessitates visual and technical ingenuity, he says. The narrative language of theatre leads to researching the ideal materials, tools and ways to give life to an imagined world that will then live on through the artists and their audience. And then, on to the next project for Adrien and his collaborators.

Interview

©Ruedi Flück

©Ruedi Flück

What is the process of creating?: We start with a scenography plan leading up to a final model discussed with the head of project, then the construction phase starts. We are also involved with follow up during the rehearsals. The artistic group work are involved in the first stage, for the main lines of the project, and then the technical group take over.
Is the final set the result of many people?: The teams are an essential part of the work: I collaborate with many people during a project. The artistic side, the directing team, the technical side of both the theatre and the workshop and of course getting all these people to coordinate in activity.
What aspects stand out to you in your work?: There is a visual and narrative language that is very interesting to exploit, a “scenography grammar” to invite narratives. There is also the whole aspect of construction and realisation: wood, paint, plaster, sculpture, textiles, this mixture of materials is very appealing to me.
Do scenography and construction always go hand in hand?: I can build for other scenographers who come to me or I can also do only the project for large theatres. It suits me to do one or the other, as a whole it is imagining universes as well as a lot of visual and technical ingenuity that I really like.

Adrien Moretti is a master artisan: he began his career in 1992 and he started teaching in 2008