Beyoncé
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NYLON talked to ten artists, designers, and photographers responsible for some of the year’s best album covers to learn how Beyoncé’s mirror-covered Renaissance horse came together, Steve Lacy’s delightfully weird collage for Gemini Rights was assembled, beabadoobee’s whimsical Beatopia was conceived, and more.

Beyonce’s Renaissance horse by set designer Nicholas des Dardins

How did you get involved with Beyoncé's Renaissance?
Not the most exciting story, but producers reached out to me based on previous work of mine. Not entirely sure what previous stuff of mine got me the gig.

How did you conceptualize covering the horse with disco balls?
The horse came about working with her and her creative team. Originally we were going to do a giant 8-inch disco ball that was already in production when we shifted ideas. The job from the start was under an immense time crunch, so for a while I was hesitant about the horse. Install was Monday after Easter weekend and the concept came about on Thursday night. We negotiated down to just doing a saddle covered in disco ball mirrors, but me and my studio manager knew it would be so worth it if we could pull it off, so we scoured the greater Los Angeles area for an available life-size horse. We waited until we knew it was possible to pull it off before we let her and her team know that we were going to deliver the full horse that inevitably became the cover.

What was the biggest challenge you faced bringing the horse to life?
Time. We had very little. Thankfully, we discovered a secret source for old fiberglass horses, as many of the current manufacturers had months-long wait periods. We found and picked it up that day and immediately started to work on covering it in 1/4" glass mirror pieces. The mirrors were coming in shipments from different vendors to get enough in time. Me and the rest of the team were literally waiting for the mail person and ripping the boxes open and continuing the task as the mirrors trickled in.