“Creating worlds is more personal for me. I can never recall the actual stories of the things that always inspired me, I just remember the vibe,” says Tim Burton. As one of the most prolific directors of the last five decades, he has carved out a unique approach to worldbuilding over the course of his career. From Beetlejuice to Batman, the ‘Burtonesque’ cinematic universe is expansive, straddling gothic horror, black comedy and oddball whimsy while also appealing to mainstream audiences.

“Tim Burton is, first and foremost, an artist. It would be difficult to identify another living filmmaker with such an expressive and tactile approach to filmmaking,” says Maria McLintock, the curator of Burton’s new show at the Design Museum in London. An evolution of an exhibition that began life back in 2009 at MoMA in New York, The World of Tim Burton has since travelled to 11 countries around the world.

The latest iteration is set to be a fitting finale, given it is taking place in Burton’s long-adopted home city, and has been specially adapted, expanded and physically reimagined to take a deeper look at the director’s work. It also builds on the Design Museum’s reputation for examining filmmakers’ work through the lens of design, dating back to its landmark Stanley Kubrick show in 2019.