# Natasha Kroll

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Production designer (1914–2004)

**Natasha Kroll** (1914–2004) was a display and production designer born in [Moscow](/source/Moscow), who moved to Germany with her family in 1922. Most widely known for her production design at the BBC in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Kroll went on to design several feature films.

Her archive is held at the [University of Brighton Design Archives](/source/University_of_Brighton_Design_Archives).[1]

## Education

Kroll attended the renowned [Reimann School](/source/Reimann_School) in Berlin specialising in display design, and joined the staff as an assistant teacher when the school moved to [London](/source/London) in 1936.[2]

## Career

### Shop display

Kroll established her career as a window display designer. Some of her early commissions included Rowntree's department stores in [York](/source/York) and [Scarborough](/source/Scarborough%2C_North_Yorkshire).

In 1942 Kroll was appointed to the position of display manager for the large retail store [Simpson (Piccadilly) Ltd](/source/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly). Her pioneering approach and her display philosophy, with its roots in European modernism, complemented the innovative new premises designed by [Joseph Emberton](/source/Joseph_Emberton).[3] Kroll stayed at Simpsons twelve years, working her way up from the role of display manager to taking full responsibility for all the store's design, publicity and display work. During this time she recruited illustrator [André François](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Fran%C3%A7ois_(cartoonist)) and gave [Terence Conran](/source/Terence_Conran) his first display commission.[4]

Kroll was also involved in the design of the interior of the restaurant "Sugar and Spice", which opened in [Dunstable](/source/Dunstable) in 1966, and was owned by [J Lyons & Co](/source/J_Lyons_%26_Co).[5]

### Exhibition design

Natasha Kroll was also involved in the display design of the following exhibitions:[6]

- Lion and Unicorn Pavilion at [The Festival of Britain](/source/Festival_of_Britain), 1951

- Finmar Exhibition at the Tea Centre, 1960

- Milan Triennale, 1964

### Production design

In 1956 Kroll joined the production design department of the [BBC](/source/BBC). As a member of the design department under Richard Levin, Kroll devised innovative settings for factual programmes and talks. As with her window displays, ideas originating from European modernism and contemporary design were given popular exposure.[7] Of particular note is the studio design she devised for [Huw Weldon](/source/Huw_Weldon)'s ground-breaking arts programme [*Monitor*](/source/Monitor_(British_TV_series)).[8]

Kroll left the BBC to go freelance in 1966, specialising in period dramas. These included *Mary Queen of Scots* (1969) and *Love's Labour's Lost* (1975).

Kroll gained several feature film credits as a production designer, including:

- *Macbeth* (1970)

- *[The Music Lovers](/source/The_Music_Lovers)* (1971)

- *[The Hireling](/source/The_Hireling)* (1973)

- *[Age of Innocence](/source/Age_of_Innocence_(1977_film))* (1977)

- *[Absolution](/source/Absolution_(1978_film))* (1978) (producer and production designer)

## Bibliography

- *The Princess and the Pea*, Collins, 1944, OCLC: 179198949

- *Window Display*, Studio Publications, 1954, ASIN: B0006D85XA

## Awards

Natasha Kroll was elected to the Faculty of [Royal Designers for Industry](/source/Royal_Designers_for_Industry) in 1966. This award from the Royal Society of Arts recognized both spheres of Kroll's work.[9]

In 1974 Kroll won the [BAFTA](/source/BAFTA) for Best Art Direction for *[The Hireling](/source/The_Hireling)* (1973).[10]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Natasha Kroll Archive - University of Brighton Design Archives](http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/collections/design-archives/archives/natasha-kroll)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Suga, Yasuko, *The Reimann School*, Artmonsky Arts, 2013, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9573875-3-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-9573875-3-9)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Natasha Kroll Archive](http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/collections/design-archives/archives/natasha-kroll) - University of Brighton Design Archives

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Artmonsky, Ruth, *Showing Off: Fifty Years of London Store Publicity and Display*, Artmonsky Arts, 2013, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0957387515](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0957387515)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Natasha Kroll](http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1837-des/nkr) on The Archives Hub

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Barman, Christian, 'Presentation of RDI Diplomas and the Bicentenary Medal for 1966, Together with an Oration', *Journal of the Royal Society of Arts*, Vol. 115, No. 5132, July 1967, pp. 604-614

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Breakell, Sue and Whitworth, Lesley, [*Émigré Designers in the University of Brighton Design Archives*](https://archive.today/20150304192722/http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/03/20/jdh.ept006.full), Journal of Design History, 2013

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Obituary - The Stage](https://www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--archive/obituaries/natasha-kroll/), May 10, 2004

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** [RSA](https://www.thersa.org/action-and-research/rsa-projects/design/royal-designers-for-industry/past-royal-designers/) - past Royal designers

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [BAFTA](http://awards.bafta.org/award/1974/film/art-direction) - Film/ Art Direction, 1974

## Further reading

- Britton, Piers, D. and Barker, Simon, J., *Reading Between Designs*, University of Texas Press, 2003, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0292709270](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0292709270)

- Ede, Laurie, N., *British Film Design: A History (Cinema and Society)*, I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2010, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1848851085](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1848851085)

- Suga, Yasuko, [Modernism, Commercialism and Display Design in Britain: The Reimann School and Studios of Industrial and Commercial Art](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3838660?seq=1&Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=natasha&searchText=kroll&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dnatasha%2Bkroll%26amp%3Bfilter%3Diid%253A10.2307%252Fi371317#page_scan_tab_contents), Journal of Design History, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2006

## External links

- [Natasha Kroll](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0472066/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) on the IMDB

- [Full filmography](https://web.archive.org/web/20151011025810/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba96354be) from the BFI

- [Obituary](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/apr/07/broadcasting.guardianobituaries), The Guardian, 7 April 2004

- [Portrait](https://nishakeshav.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/natasha-kroll-set-designer.jpg) by Nisha Keshav

v t e BAFTA Award for Best Production Design 1964–1967 Black and White Ken Adam (1964) Ray Simm (1965) Tambi Larsen (1966) No Award (1967) Colour John Bryan (1964) Ken Adam (1965) Wilfred Shingleton (1966) John Box (1967) 1968–present Ernest Archer, Harry Lange, and Anthony Masters (1968) Donald M. Ashton (1969) Mario Garbuglia (1970) Ferdinando Scarfiotti (1971) Rolf Zehetbauer (1972) Natasha Kroll (1973) John Box (1974) John Box (1975) Geoffrey Kirkland (1976) Danilo Donati and Federico Fellini (1977) Joe Alves (1978) Michael Seymour (1979) Stuart Craig (1980) Norman Reynolds (1981) Lawrence G. Paull (1982) Gianni Quaranta and Franco Zeffirelli (1983) Roy Walker (1984) Norman Garwood (1985) Brian Ackland-Snow and Gianni Quaranta (1986) Santo Loquasto (1987) Dean Tavoularis (1988) Dante Ferretti (1989) Richard Sylbert (1990) Bo Welch (1991) Catherine Martin (1992) Andrew McAlpine (1993) Dante Ferretti (1994) Michael Corenblith (1995) Tony Burrough (1996) Catherine Martin (1997) Dennis Gassner (1998) Rick Heinrichs (1999) Arthur Max (2000) Aline Bonetto (2001) Dennis Gassner (2002) William Sandell (2003) Dante Ferretti (2004) Stuart Craig (2005) Jim Clay, Geoffrey Kirkland, and Jennifer Williams (2006) Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer (2007) Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo (2008) Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, and Kim Sinclair (2009) Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, and Doug Mowat (2010) Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo (2011) Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson (2012) Catherine Martin and Beverly Dunn (2013) Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock (2014) Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (2015) Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock (2016) Paul D. Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, and Shane Vieau (2017) Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton (2018) Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales (2019) Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale (2020) Patrice Vermette and Zsuzsanna Sipos (2021) Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino (2022) Shona Heath, James Price, and Zsuzsa Mihalek (2023) Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales (2024) Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau (2025)

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