Shizuka Hariu

Shizuka Hariu is an interdisciplinary designer whose innovative work bridges the worlds of scenography and architecture. Her approach to spatial storytelling has shaped contemporary performance across Europe, Japan, and the UK.

In the most recent season, she brought her dynamic aesthetic to the Royal Ballet in London, collaborating with choreographer Robert Binet on Dark with Excessive Bright. She also reimagined Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Dekalog for the stage in a bold new adaptation commissioned by the New National Theatre Tokyo. Shizuka Hariu’s creative direction include Super Angels (New National Theatre Tokyo), Written on Skin (Suntory Hall), and site-specific design for the large-scale international productions such as Bells for Peace by Yoko Ono (Manchester International Festival), Dystopian Dream (Sadler’s Wells), Solid Traces (Charleroi Danses), and Sacred Monsters with Akram Khan and Sylvie Guillem. 

A three-project nominee for the prestigious World Stage Design 2025 – selected from nearly 800 projects – Hariu is the recipient of two Bronze medals from the World Stage Design (2022 and 2017), as well as accolades from Japan Space Design, D&AD, the German Design Award, and others. She has represented the UK at the Prague Quadrennial in 2022, 2019, and 2015.

Shizuka lectured at institutions including the University of London, Ghent University, Antwerp University, the V&A Museum, and the Japanese Embassy in the UK. She serves on international juries such as the Non-Architecture Award and the 101st ADC Award and contributes to global discourse on the future of design and performance.

She is co-director of SHSH Architecture + Scenography, an award-winning studio she leads with architect Shin Bogdan Hagiwara. Together, they explore the intersection of built form and live performance, continually redefining what spaces for art can be.