Willo Perron
The Polymath Designer Sending Rihanna to New Heights
Rihanna may be the one on stage singing “Work, work, work, work, work,” but creative director and designer Willo Perron has been behind the scenes designing stages for the superstar since 2008. As a creative architect and audiovisual designer, Willo co-founded the multidisciplinary studio Perron – Roettinger with Brian Roettinger, and is the designer of choice for some of the world’s biggest household names (think Drake, Jay-Z and Kanye West). Having constant exposure to different points of view matters deeply to Willo, and he works with a tight-knit group of collaborators in order to spark conversations (and even arguments) on creative direction.
Projects
Creating a stage fit for an iconic superstar to perform in front of hundreds of millions of people is no easy feat — especially when you can’t disturb the grass below. Willo Perron accepted the challenge head on for Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, which involved a series of floating stages designed to preserve the football field. That wasn’t Willo’s first time working with Rihanna — their relationship goes way back to her first Savage x Fenty show at New York Fashion Week, an hour-long music and dance performance — nor was it his first time making things fly. A few years earlier, he famously floated a yellow Ferrari for Drake’s Aubrey and the Three Migas tour.
