Grace Yun is a production designer who works in feature and television projects. She earned her BFA at Parsons School of Design, exploring her passion for fine art, architecture and film. Starting her career in the art department, Yun moved on to serve as production designer on feature length films; designing Eliza Hittman’s Sundance Director Award winner Beach Rats, Ari Aster’s Hereditary, Paul Schrader’s Academy Award nominated_ First Reformedand Celine Song's Past Lives. Television projects include the Golden Globe and Peabody Award winner Ramy_ and Season 1 and 2 of Lee Sung Jin’s A24/Netflix series Beef.
In the fourteenth episode of Apotheosis, host Alexander Whittenberg sits down with production designer and PDC member Grace Yun for a conversation about the practical and the poetic forces that shape her work.
Yun reflects on the role of dreams in her creative process, describing how she records them through sketching and allows their imagery to quietly inform her design language. The two discuss their shared appreciation for Isamu Noguchi's playscapes, which they say feels as though it emerges organically from the earth similarly to Yun’s own elemental approach to space.
The conversation turns to Beef Season 2, where Yun breaks down how the four central locations subtly mirror the four seasons through atmospheric shifts in palette and material. She speaks to the intuitive, almost primal qualities that guide her choices, a thread linking to her work on Past Lives.
As the discussion unfolds, Yun also reflects on her work on Hereditary, which she approached stylistically as a family drama by using warm and familiar home interiors without relying on solely on traditional horror imagery.
Knowing glances are shared between Nora (Greta Lee), Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) and Arthur (John Magaro) in Past Lives.
“The negative space gives room for the spiritual space.”
Amy (Ali Wong) and George (Joseph Lee) share a moment in his art studio in Beef Season One.
The Graham house becomes a battleground in Hereditary.
“My hope is that there will always be a need for world builders.”
Lindsay (Carrie Mulligan) is surrounded by her emotional support pillows in Beef Season Two.
