Studio ZNA, a London-based creative lighting design practice founded by Zerlina Hughes in 2006, has earned recognition at the 2024 LIT Lighting Design Awards titled Architectural Lighting Design of the Year. Known for their expertise in museum and gallery design, high-end retail, commercial and residential projects, as well as theatre, opera, and film, the studio combines artistic sensitivity with technical innovation to shape exceptional spatial experiences.
Their award-winning project, Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto, hosted at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, is a testament to Studio ZNA’s approach. While Zerlina Hughes directs the practice, this project saw a close collaboration with team member Saumya Monga, who played a pivotal role in realizing its vision. Together, they illuminated the UK’s first exhibition dedicated to the legacy of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, creating an atmosphere that harmonized with the designer’s timeless elegance.
The exhibition’s lighting design unfolds as a journey, reflecting the evolution of Chanel’s iconic designs. From the crisp morning light to the golden glow in the perfume room and the shifting dappled effects of the eveningwear section, Studio ZNA’s work offers visitors a sensory narrative that enhances their experience. Sustainability remained at the forefront, with the reuse of museum stock, fixture upgrades, and future-proofing techniques integrated seamlessly into the project.
In this exclusive interview, Zerlina Hughes and Saumya Monga, winners of the LIT Lighting Design Award, discuss their creative collaboration, the challenges of designing for culturally significant exhibitions, and the importance of lighting in shaping audience engagement. They offer insights into the creative process behind Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto and share their aspirations for the future of Studio ZNA.
Zerlina Hughes and Saumya Monga
Can you tell us about Studio ZNA and about your approach to lighting design?
Studio ZNA is a creative lighting design practice. We offer a specialist understanding of light and form. The dynamic nature of light, natural and artificial; its ability to transform and maximize space, highlight texture, stimulate color, and evoke mood informs our work and stimulates our design process.
Can you tell us about Studio ZNA and about your approach to lighting design?
Studio ZNA is a creative lighting design practice. We offer a specialist understanding of light and form. The dynamic nature of light, natural and artificial; its ability to transform and maximize space, highlight texture, stimulate color, and evoke mood informs our work and stimulates our design process.
Can you tell us about the vision behind this project? How did it come to be, and how did you apply it to this specific setting?
Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto is the first UK exhibition dedicated to the work of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, charting the establishment of the House of CHANEL and the evolution of her iconic design style. We were excited by the opportunity to deliver a fresh, elegant, dynamic presentation of this superlative collection with the creative teams of Storey Studio, The Bon Ton, and Luke Halls Studio. The lighting design was key to enabling visitors to appreciate the objects with their exquisite details, forms, textures and materiality in close viewing – achieved at low conservation light levels whilst also creating a wider luminous, elegant layered lightscape within the exhibition world they inhabit. Inspired by Storey Studio’s approach, we proposed the visitors experience the objects under subtly shifting light treatments, moving through the sections from morning, noon, afternoon, and dusk to night time in both exterior and interior, rural and urban contexts. At times, this was abstracted, for example, in the entrance sequences with fresh, crisp morning light, and at the ending, in the perfume room, where we created an effect of beams of light passing through a gold liquid perfume bottle. At other times, the lighting was more suggestive, as in the evening wear section, where elegantly shifting dappled light supports the thematic narrative and also evokes moods of contemplation and wonder. The exhibition holds 200 hundred objects of fashion, textiles, accessories, and photography. Such sensitive works require careful choreography. We worked with the designers to create an exciting and varied visual journey throughout the show. We used light to introduce dynamism to the display, with AV synchronization and sequenced moments that ranged from subtle evocation to full fashion drama.
Photo Credits: Thomas Adank
With 200 objects on display, how did you manage to create a sense of coherence while ensuring each section of the exhibition maintained its own unique atmosphere?
We created different moods for each of the 8 sections set out by the curatorial team but inspired by the Chanel brand; we kept the vision cohesive by using a very restricted pallet. We used only tones of light rather than introducing any colored light. Working from 2700 to 4000K, we utilized dynamic white lighting to subtly shift and change throughout the exhibition journey. We illuminated the objects consistently with a key light of 3000K, and then ambient and fill light would respond to the particular scenography and type of content, i.e., eveningwear, daywear, etc.
The lighting in the perfume room evoking beams of light passing through liquid gold, can you describe the process of designing such an effect?
We sketched different approaches on paper and then prototyped options at a one-to-one scale in the studio. We knew that it would be a reflected light that would softly disperse around the space. The equipment creating the effect needed to be concealed, so we had to consider the sightlines and the mounting position very carefully. We initially tested a bespoke mirror ball with a more fractured surface but found a large faceted octagon shape produced more extended effects. We trialed mirrors and metals but discovered that metallic foil of gold and silver, scrunched and then applied to the surface, produced a more liquid effect. We used mini framing projectors from 4 sides to control the beam to the specific surface and applied dmx control so we could sequence a changing luminosity. We also specified a rotating plate so that the reflected imagery had a dynamism as sunlight might pass through a golden liquid, perfume. The speed of rotation was also dmxed controlled so we could choreograph the imagery and movement.
How did your collaboration with Storey Studio and other designers influence the lighting strategy?
It was a fantastic collaboration with Storey Studio from inception to completion. They are such talented designers who really value the significance of light in the delivery of their scenographic worlds. We exchanged thoughts, inspiration, sketches, and technical drawings to deliver a fully integrated vision to show the Chanel collection at its very best. Similarly, the Bon Ton created a very elegant graphic hierarchy. We worked closely with them to deliver the technical details of backlighting and cover lighting of the text, which created a very chic, shadow-free, fully accessible graphic language. With Luke Halls vídeo and Coda to Coda’s soundscape, we synchronized the lighting with their content to create a fully cohesive experience.
What were the main challenges you faced in this project, and how did you overcome them?
Lighting for sensitive objects such as textiles at a maximum of 50 lux is always challenging, and with 200 objects, we needed to consider the visitor journey, allowing the eye moments to refresh and rest. We designed a layered luminous scenography where the objects were wrapped in a layer of light, which, whilst appearing luminous, was actually diffused and reflected, therefore limiting direct exposure. Key lighting on the textiles at 40 lux was used to render detail and texture. The atmospheric and ambient light further elevated this sense of wonder and light.
Can you explain how sustainability influenced your choices in this project?
Where possible, we reuse all stock available in the museum’s lighting stores. Where new items are required, we ensure that they are installed in such a way that they can be de-installed without damage and then cataloged for reuse in future installations. As part of our specification, we also upgraded some older track fittings with replacement light engines: we kept the fitting bodies and lenses and specified high color rendering chips in the replacement light engines. Thus, the wasteful discarding of the lighting hardware was avoided. The obsolete component parts then re-enter the chain for re-cycling.
What role do you believe lighting plays in shaping the way visitors connect themselves with fashion exhibitions like this one?
We approach our lighting design as a very narrative-driven medium. It supports the messaging of the exhibition by focusing on the content, the skill of the design and craft, and the meticulous detailing on display. But it also works in a more sensory way: it can induce mood and provoke emotion, inspire wonder, inject drama and jeopardy. It can help guide the visitor into intimate moments of viewing and also invite collective sharing, supporting a dialogue between the collection, its people, and the public in the exhibition space.
Photo Credit: Thomas Adank
What does winning the LIT Award for “Fashion Design Lighting” mean for Studio ZNA?
We are so thrilled to be awarded this prestigious accolade. It is wonderful to witness the public enjoying the fruits of the collective creative team’s work, but lighting can often be overlooked. Whilst beautiful light can play a subtle supporting role in this instance, we feel the lighting was an active ingredient of the exhibition’s successful delivery, and we are delighted to have this recognized by the lighting experts in our sector on the LIT awards panel.
Can you tell us about any other projects you are currently working on or what the future might bring to Studio ZNA?
We are currently working on the new location of the Fashion Museum Bath to light the new permanent home for its superlative collection. We are working on two Museums in Sarawak, Malaysia, one about to be completed with final tweaks onsite and the other at the concept stage. It is hugely exciting to work with both local and international teams. We are also delighted that this coming year, the new permanent collection galleries for the brand new built V&A East museum will open, becoming the centerpiece of this new cultural quarter at the former Olympic site. We are also thrilled to be lighting the David Bowie Centre, a unique, dedicated archival space for exhibition and research in the V&A’s cutting-edge archival building, V&A Storehouse.
