BACK TO
NATURE:
CREATING THE HARFOOT WORLD
These itinerant proto-Hobbits required a cultural backdrop that was always ready to hit the road
L ong before the Hobbits of the Shire, there were the Harfoots. These humble halflings play a key role in the narrative of The Rings of Power, but their habitat couldn’t be more differentiated from the sprawling settlements of the rest of Middle-earth’s inhabitants. “They are small people in a dangerous world,” Production Designer Ramsey Avery explains. “They don’t have towns, they don’t have villages. But then how do you create that sense of community?” The answer was to create a nomadic neighborhood that appears to have blossomed out of their natural surroundings. “The textile department had a field day,” recalls Set Decorator Megan Vertelle. “They built up this really beautiful palette of greens and washed-out pinks
and oranges. So when you opened up the cart and set up for camp, they would reveal these amazing, joyful colors.” The Harfoots’ furniture was created to be collapsible, as if ready to be bundled up into carts at a moment’s notice, and was unified by a handcrafted, hand-carved, and hand-woven aesthetic. Capturing this called for expert technique, provided by Fabrication Weaver Mike Lillian, who taught the crew the dying art of French basket weaving, albeit with a local twist: Lillian’s willow material was intertwined with supplejack, a vine native to New Zealand. “The half-and-half carts are my favorite,” says Vertelle. “It’s the combination of really structured weaving—the old technique—with a wild, raw, roguish kind of style. It’s really incredible.”
“The half-and-half carts are my favorite... It’s the combination of really structured weaving—the old technique—with a wild, raw, roguish kind of style. It’s really incredible.”
— Megan Vertelle, Set Decorator
Above: The Brandyfoots and Poppy Proudfellow transport their carts, which will expand to form their homes when they reach their destination.
Above: The Harfoots’ nomadic neighborhood, built to blend in with the natural environment surrounding them.
24
25
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator