Bridgerton production designer Alison Gartshoe & florist Phillip Corps discuss elaborate balls in season 3 and how they complement Penelope’s story.

Shondaland’s sensational Bridgerton returns to Netlfix on May 16 for season 3, which focuses on the friends-to-lovers romance of Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). Still reeling from her best friend’s discovery of her Lady Whistledown identity, Penelope decides to make some changes in her life to escape her mother’s household and her own fate as an unwedded spinster. While Colin took himself out of the running at the end of season 2, Penelope still comes to rely on him for courtship advice, which leads to unexpected tension on both sides.

Bridgerton season 3 is a departure from previous seasons in a myriad of ways, starting with the fact that it’s the first one Netflix is breaking up into two parts. Beyond delaying the audience’s gratification, though, the Shondaland series has also changed showrunners — with Jess Brownell taking over for Chris Van Dusen. The female gaze brings a breath of fresh air to Penelope’s story, as does production designer Alison Gartshoe, who has been promoted from art director just in time for the era of “Polin.” Gartshoe’s responsibilities include creating the visual look of the show, with influence on set design, props, and costumes.

Bridgerton Season 3’s Showrunner Is “Wonderfully Collaborative”

Screen Rant: Alison, you took over as production designer this year. What were the biggest lessons you took away from your predecessor, and what was your biggest challenge stepping into this new role?

Alison Gartshore: Well, stepping into the new role was the biggest challenge. [Laughs] I’d been an art director on seasons 1 and 2, but this was my first big production design job, so the whole time I was really learning how to do it.

Will [Hughes-Jones] gave me good advice before he handed the baton to me. He gave me a few pointers, but because I’d worked on seasons 1 and 2, I knew the job really well. I didn’t feel like I was walking into a world that I didn’t know. I knew the world and understood it, and I knew more or less what needed to be done.

Jess has been part of Shondaland for a while now, but this is her first time running the show at Bridgerton. How would you each say that has changed the dynamic? What did you not expect from Jess, or what was most surprising for you about working with her this season?

Alison Gartshore: I think Jess is just wonderfully collaborative. She loves to collaborate, and she loves to discuss ideas. It’s just a joy to work with her, actually, because she listens properly and gives you really good feedback. It’s always very considered, and she really knows her stuff.

She really knows what she wants out of a scenario, so she’ll give you a very clear brief, which is great for us to work with because there’s no ambiguity there at all. She’s very clear about what she wants to see, and then she gives you the freedom to go away and visualize that for her. And she’ll either like it all or not like it. You go away, you do your designs, and then you present your designs with your heart and your mouth thinking, “Oh, if it’s not liked, I’ve got to go and start again.” But actually, most of what we put forward was accepted, so that was a lovely process to go through.

Putting The Perfect Flowery Touch On Bridgerton Season 3

Phillip, flowers seem like such a small detail and yet they are integral to Bridgerton. How much does your job encompass, and who do you work closest with to bring it to fruition?

Phillip Corps: I work with Alison probably the most, and Natalie [Papageorgiadis], our set decorator. That’s probably who I work mostly with, in terms of the florals. Sometimes it’s with costume, if it’s a boutonniere or something like that, but flowers have almost got their own character on the show. It’s quite a big task; larger than life.

In the book, color is a huge part of Penelope’s glow-up as she takes charge of her life. How do you translate that in the show? What changes did you make to the Featherington household and Penelope scenes?

Alison Gartshore: For Penelope particularly, we didn’t change her spaces very much because her mom is still in charge of the household. Although she is striving to be independent and free from the yellow, shall we say, she hasn’t quite managed it yet. That might develop further as we go through the seasons, but at the moment, for season 3, her spaces were pretty much as they are.

Penelope is often described as a wallflower, but if you had to select a flower that you think does represent her, what would it be and why?

Phillip Corps: Gladiola, I think. They stand tall, and they know what they want. They’re flamboyant, but they’re also really beautiful. They have a strong shape; it’s a proud flower.

Balls Are Bigger Than Ever In Bridgerton Season 3

We see 16 phases of the moon in the flower arrangements for the Full Moon Ball. Who first imagines the design, and how much effort does it take to bring that to fruition?

Alison Gartshore: Sometimes you just have a vision of what you want, and for the Full Moon Ball, I just had an idea in my head that I wanted to see the phases of the moon and express them in the floral arrangements. That was the brief to the set decoration team.

Then you’ve got to think about how you’re going to do it practically. The phases of the moon, how on earth do we make that work? There are lots of conversations about which flowers you might use. Are they all going to be white, or are there going to be slight creams and grays to give a little bit of texture? Which is what we went with in the end. There’s also the technicalities of actually building them because it’s all well and good with the full moon; that’s a nice ball shape that’s easy to achieve. But when you get to the sliver, suddenly you are wondering, “How’s that going to stand up?”

Phillip Corps: And it has to translate well on camera because you have to know what you’re looking at.

Balls are always a big to-do in Bridgerton, and you seem to be topping yourselves in season 3. How do you each generally approach matching the themes of each ball? Do you have a favorite ball that you can speak about, and why?

Alison Gartshore: I think the Four Seasons Ball, particularly for Phillip, was the one that was a big challenge. It was really challenging just because of the sheer volume of florals that were in that ballroom. We had this vision of an ombre through the florals from spring, coming down the staircase through summer, autumn, and then to winter. But it had to blend beautifully and seamlessly.

Phillip Corps: That was the hardest challenge for me actually; the blend. Because you didn’t want it to jar on camera, or have it suddenly go from autumn colors to spring. It had to soften and keep with the design, involving the architecture but still spilling over some of the porticos and things like that. It was a tough one, but it was a really beautiful one to work on. Both challenging and awesome at the same time.

Alison Gartshore: I think the spectacle of it is really good. I loved it when I saw the rushes.

Phillip Corps: Both ends of the room looked so sumptuous and rich, but it worked really well.

About Bridgerton Season 3

Bridgerton is back for its third season and finds Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has finally given up on her long-held crush on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) after hearing his disparaging words about her last season. She has, however, decided it’s time to take a husband, preferably one who will provide her with enough independence to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown, far away from her mother and sisters. But lacking in confidence, Penelope’s attempts on the marriage mart fail spectacularly. Meanwhile, Colin has returned from his summer travels with a new look and a serious sense of swagger. But he’s disheartened to realize that Penelope, the one person who always appreciated him as he was, is giving him the cold shoulder.

Eager to win back her friendship, Colin offers to mentor Penelope in the ways of confidence to help her find a husband this season. But when his lessons start working a little too well, Colin must grapple with whether his feelings for Penelope are truly just friendly. Complicating matters for Penelope is her rift with Eloise (Claudia Jessie), who has found a new friend in a very unlikely place, while Penelope’s growing presence in the ton makes it all the more difficult to keep her Lady Whistledown alter ego a secret.