Earlier this week, Lorde fired shots at the Kids See Ghosts’ Camp Flog Gnaw set design. She claimed the duo stole the stage concept she used during her Melodrama tour, and for her 2017 Coachella performance. Neither Kanye nor Cudi have responded to Lorde’s accusations (and they probably never will), but both stage designers involved have released statements.
Trask House, a California-based company, created both the Kids See Ghosts and Saint Pablo tour stages. Trask’s owner, John McGuire, was the first to respond to Lorde’s comments. In an email to the New York Times, he wrote Lorde “wasn’t the first person to use a floating glass box, she won’t be the last.” McGuire continued, “She doesn’t own it, her designer didn’t invent it. Cubes and floating aren’t new to Kanye West, stage design or architecture. A quick google of ‘floating glass box’ brings up many instances of suspended glass cubes.” Kanye first performed on a suspended stage during his 2016 Saint Pablo tour.
Es Devlin,—who designed both Lorde’s Melodrama and Coachella sets—has also worked with Kanye, on his 2013/14 Yeezus tour. In an email to Joe Coscarelli of the New York Times, Es shares an Instagram post featuring her 2007 floating stage design for the English Opera. She also expresses her respect for both Lorde and Kanye, stating “I admire both and I see no imitation at work here.” Es describes the stages as “responses to our dis-jointed times…the world unmoored by gravity.”
View Es’ full statement below.
and here’s Es Devlin w her side: “I admire both and see no imitation at work here: I think the more interesting point is that both artists, responding to our dis-jointed times, are being drawn to this gesture of the fragile floating room” pic.twitter.com/TwtmeW6IY5
— Joe Coscarelli (@joecoscarelli) November 13, 2018