Denise (Lena Waithe) and Alicia (Naomi Ackie) lie in bed together. Alicia hugs Denise’s middle. Alicia wears a patterened pajama top, and Denise wears a yellow sweatshirt. Their bed is made of wood and they have white bedding.

    Moments in Love

    Queue looks at how the magnificent production design of Season 3 of Master of None is the perfect set for the intimate case study of a relationship.

    By Gina McIntyre
    Set photos by Amy Williams
    25 June 20218 min read

    For the third season of the Emmy Award-winning series Master of None, the smart, incisive comedy about friendship and romance in New York City, creators Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang challenged themselves to reinvent completely. They chose to explore the disintegration of a relationship in intimate, contemplative detail. Subtitled “Moments in Love,” the five episodes follow Dev’s friend Denise (Lena Waithe), now an acclaimed novelist, who finds herself increasingly estranged from her interior-designer wife Alicia (Naomi Ackie) after the couple attempts to conceive their first child. “We had a show that was working, and we decided to destroy it completely and create something new,” Ansari says.

    Shot on 16mm film, the season takes place inside the breathtakingly beautiful home Denise and Alicia share in upstate New York. It fell to production designer and co-producer Amy Williams to create the one-of-a-kind residence. “I wanted to design a house that had weird anomalies and personalities,” Williams says. “It was important to create a space that audiences haven’t seen for these two women to occupy. We built this beautiful, historic fantasy with all this structure, color, and depth.”

    The Nuts & Bolts

    Williams oversaw the construction of the interiors on an East London soundstage, with two different properties standing in for the exterior of Denise and Alicia’s home. “We retrofitted the inside of the set so that the windows would match, and the door would swing the right direction, so we had that continuity,” Williams says. “In some ways, this house is their fairytale, and in other ways, it’s a place of confinement. We reflected that in the design using low ceilings.”

    The soundstage used in Season 3 “Moments of Love” Master of None. There are stars, chairs, plants, curtains, overhead lights, and filming equipment surrounding the wooden house.
    An exterior shot of the house. It is shrouded in trees and bushes, and there is a car parked in the driveway. The yard is sprawling, with fences, trees, and bushes.
    The interior of the house. The walls are finished with green, there is a fireplace, a rug, an overhead light, artwork hanging from the wals, plants, and firewood. The jumbled aesthetic is mostly made up of green and red, and the light makes it very cozy.

    The Anchor

    When it came to furnishing the principal living area just off the entryway, “We had a bunch of different options for the sofa because it’s such an important anchor piece in a set,” Wiliams says. “Aziz and I were undecided about which sofa to go for, so he was like, ‘Let’s just show Lena and Naomi.’ Separately, they each picked out the same sofa.” Brightly colored, the contemporary lines of the piece reflect Denise’s aesthetic, while the vintage items glimpsed throughout the home represent Alicia’s tastes.

    The living room. There is a yellow velvet couch, coffee table with books and a plant, overhead light fixture, chairs, more plants, pillows, and french doors in the background.
    Another shot of the living room complete with yellow couch: brown chairs, wood paneled ceiling, plants, lamps, and a blue pillow.
    A wooden bureau, with a bust, plant, and lamp atop. There is also a poster on the wall, framed by wood beams throughout this little nook. We can also glimpse the top of a wooden chair.
    A wooden table with a blue lamp, plant, three decorative balls, some books, and a dish. There is a stool to the side, and a green chair against the window.
    A wood paneled room with a fireplace, long cabinet with a plant, books, and a dish atop, another large plant in the foreground of this shot, and a green couch in the distance. The colors are predominately green, red, brown wood, and yellow.

    Down to the Details

    Although much of the season was shot in the U.K., “everything was measured in feet and inches to go with the measurements that they would have in the U.S.,” Williams says. “Our team worked really hard to get the little details right, like the light switches and the outlets.” In some cases, sourcing the necessary appliances proved especially challenging. “The interesting thing, especially with the laundry scene, was how difficult it was to find a side-by-side washer and dryer.”

    The laundry room, which is finished with a bright yellow. The washer and dryer are white, there is an ironing board, checkered curtains, and a wood panel.
    The mudroom, finished with bright yellow. There are portraits against the wall, hanging clothes, a basket, and a huge plant. There is also a closet that is lit by a red overhead light.
    Denise (Lena Waithe) and Alicia (Naomi Ackie) dance while doing laundry. Denise holds a green garment, and Alicia holds a blue one. There is a basket and pile of clothes atop the machines.

    Denise (Lena Waithe) and Alicia (Naomi Ackie)

    Easter Eggs Galore

    Ingmar Bergman’s drama Scenes from a Marriage, which charts the experiences of a seemingly perfect couple whose relationship comes undone, strongly influenced “Moments in Love,” so Williams selected a specific vintage loveseat as a direct homage to the acclaimed Swedish film. She included other cinematic Easter eggs as well: The wallpaper in the upstairs bathroom is inspired by pioneering feminist filmmaker Chantal Akerman’s 1975 drama Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.

    A green couch with paisley and yellow pillows, as well as a blue blanket. The french doors are open, framed by colorful curtains. In the foreground is a blue lamp.
    The bathroom. There is a asymetrically shaped mirror, pink sink and toilet, striped tile design, circular mirror, window, and skylight.
    Denise (Lena Waithe) and Alicia (Naomi Ackie) stand in their bathroom. The light makes it look like nighttime. Alicia stands at the sink and wears patterned pajamas, and Denise wears all white.

    Denise (Lena Waithe) and Alicia (Naomi Ackie)

    Art & Color

    “For each episode, we had a color palette throughout, which was reflected in the color of Lena’s hair, in the lush green environment — you see it in the main paintings that hang on the walls,” Williams explains. The paintings were sourced from artists including Bria Murphy, Robert Pruitt, Courtney Webstar, and Carrie Mae Weems, whose work Waithe collects. Among the most prominently featured pieces is the black-and-white mug shot of Nebraska sex worker Goldie Williams. Arrested for vagrancy in the 1800s, Williams chose to strike a defiant, unconventional pose for her station photo. In the series, Alicia says she was drawn to the image, which captures the woman’s rebellious spirit.

    Two images of a piece of artwork, and the artwork where it belongs in the house. The portrait is a close shot of a black woman, with grey lips and eyebrows. In the house it stands above a small wooden table, lit by a lamp and framed by wooden beams.
    Two images of a piece of artwork, and the artwork where it belongs in the house. The portrait is of a black woman, with a big afro and a green top. In the house it it lit by an overhead lamp in a room with wood floors, a window, plants, and lamps.
    Two images of a piece of artwork, and the artwork where it belongs in the house. The portrait is of a shirtless person, wearing pants and standing next to a motorcycle holding a gun. In the house it hangs against a wallpapered wall with a light at its top.
    Three images of two pieces of artwork, and the artwork where they belong in the house. The first portrait is of a naked person lying against a dining room table lit by an overhead lamp. The second is Nebraska sex worker Goldie Williams who crosses her arms defiantly in a mug shot. In the house these two works of art hang above a brown chest of drawers, atop which is a lamp, books, a plant, and a figure of a crane.

    OriginIII by Bria Murphy

    Steeped by Robert Pruitt

    Patricide by Meg Turner and Cortney Webster

    The Kitchen Table Series (left) by Carrie Mae Weems and Goldie Williams's Mug Shot (right)

    Birth and Renewal, Death and Change

    “Their bedside tables show their personalities,” Williams says. “Both of the books on their bedside tables were recommendations by the actors, and I think that helped them feel at home and comfortable in the set. It just added so much detail. One particular thing that I really like about [the bedroom set] is the stained-glass window. We put so much symbolism into this simple stained-glass window. You have each episode’s color palette. You have the female genitalia. If you look at it sideways, you have ovaries and a vagina. We also included a cicada as our symbolic animal of the season to represent birth and renewal, death and change.”

    A peek into the bedroom from the outside. Looking through the doorway we see a colorful bedspread, warm lamp, small skylight, books, a radiator, and colorful pillows. Outside the room is a plant.
    A shot of a table top complete with mug of coffee, glass of water, grinder, books, candle and lamp.
    A shot of the bedroom. The bed is predominately white with a multi colored spread, and a multi colored stained glass window. There is a brick fireplace and wood beams on the ceiling.
    Denise (Lena Waithe) and Alicia (Naomi Ackie) sit in bed. Denise looks at Alicia with a concerned expression, and Alicia stares into space in very chic pajamas. On the wall is a stained glass window with blue, green, yellow, and red panes, as well as small lamps.

    Denise (Lena Waithe) and Alicia (Naomi Ackie)

    Ansari co-wrote the season’s five episodes with Waithe, who, in 2017, became the first Black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing for the Master of None episode “Thanksgiving,” partially based on her experience coming out to her mother. “We just knew we wanted to make something interesting and heartfelt and touching,” Waithe says of writing “Moments in Love.”

    “Right now, everything is fast and flashy,” Ansari adds. “The idea was to go the complete opposite direction and do something that’s so quiet and still, people would lean in and pay attention. I was 20 percent terrified the whole time because on paper everything sounds like a terrible idea – I’m not going to be in the show anymore, and we’re going to hold on them doing laundry for three minutes. But just seeing Naomi and Lena together was great.”

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