Museum Studio CEO Delphine de Canecaude has, in her own words, one of the best jobs in the world. Since taking the helm of the Paris-based cultural engineering firm in early 2023, she has guided a team of 400 specialists through more than its share of ambitious projects in 100 countries, from a reimagined Mona Lisa experience at the Grand Palais Immersif to a visitor experience for Gandhi’s Ashram in Ahmedabad.
In May, the firm designed and produced “Hidden Treasures” at the Shed in New York, which explored two and a half centuries of artistic exchange between France and the United States through luxury goods, art and design. Museum Studio has also done strategic work for the V&A East and collaborated with institutions including the Smithsonian, the British Museum and the Zayed National Museum in the U.A.E.
The career that brought de Canecaude to the firm has been similarly eclectic. After studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she spent nearly two decades in advertising, founding Etoile Rouge, which was later acquired by BETC Group, and cultural ventures including The RedList and Stella Studio. What links those chapters, she might say, is the same question that drives good museum work: how do you take something most people know little about and make it genuinely matter to them?
Observer spoke with her about the underappreciated longevity of museum design, where the field tends to go wrong and right and what it actually takes to turn an idea into an exhibition. Several times during our exchange, de Canecaude spoke of the importance of authenticity. As much as technology and the hybrid experiences it empowers have transformed museums, she argues, it is the real—the actual artifact, the actual painting—that must remain the irreducible core of what museums offer their visitors.
Tell me about your job, which sounds amazing. Can you walk me through the steps you take when working with museums on shows?
I genuinely think I have one of the best jobs in the world. Every project is completely different. Every brief takes us into a new subject that we often know very little about at the beginning, so we’re constantly learning. One day we’re immersed in Renaissance painting, the next in natural history, contemporary art, archaeology or science. Every project is a new adventure.
What makes Museum Studio quite unique is that we’re a true one-stop shop for museums and cultural institutions. We can support a project across its entire value chain.
Sometimes we’re helping a client imagine a museum that doesn’t exist yet, defining its vision, its masterplan and its business model. Sometimes we’re designing the visitor experience for an entire museum, creating a temporary exhibition, or developing a single gallery. On other projects, we’re asked to focus on something very specific, whether that’s strategic consulting, exhibition design, content development, media production, retail, publishing through our sister company Skira, or even the construction and delivery of the exhibition itself.
That’s what makes the job so exciting: no two projects are ever the same. Museums are extraordinary collective endeavors. Every project brings together curators, architects, scientists, historians, designers, filmmakers, educators and craftspeople. Our role is to orchestrate all that expertise into one coherent experience for visitors.
Recently, we worked with the Louvre on a new version of the immersive Mona Lisa experience, originally produced by the Grand Palais Immersif. We preserved all the scientific research and scholarly content, but completely reimagined the narrative. Instead of someone telling the story of the Mona Lisa, she tells her own story in the first person. That simple shift completely changes the emotional connection visitors have with the work.
We also recently opened an exhibition in New York with the Comité Colbert, bringing together 65 French luxury maisons around the story of Franco-American friendship. It was another reminder that every exhibition is the result of an incredible collective effort.
What’s something people might be surprised to learn about museum or exhibition design?
I think what surprises people most is how long museums are designed to last. When you create a museum, you’re not designing something that will exist for six months. You’re creating a place that may still welcome visitors 20 or 30 years from now. It has to stand the test of time while remaining flexible enough to evolve as technology, research and audiences change. But if you do your job well, millions of people will experience what you’ve created. Jay Barnwell, who leads our U.S. exhibition company D&P, often tells our teams: “Be proud of what you build, millions of people will come through these spaces.” That’s quite a rare privilege.
What also surprises people is the extraordinary diversity of expertise behind every project. One day you’re working with specialists on iconic historical figures like Gandhi. The next, with experts on Ancient Egypt or the Cold War. Then you’re meeting scientists who have dedicated their lives to mangroves, camels, marine ecosystems or dinosaurs. Every museum opens the door to an entirely new world of expertise.
Some people restore centuries-old textiles. Others conserve paintings or archaeological artifacts. Some build life-size dinosaur skeletons. Others develop the latest scientific interpretation for natural history museums. The range of expertise is extraordinary.
The challenge is always the same: how do you transform that depth of expertise into an experience that is accessible, engaging and memorable for very different audiences?
That’s especially important because every audience is different. Designing a museum in a country with a long museum-going tradition isn’t the same as creating one where visiting museums is still a relatively new cultural habit. Every project starts by understanding who you’re speaking to and how you can create enough curiosity and emotion to make that expertise meaningful.
For me, that’s the most fascinating part of museum design. Every project is an opportunity to discover an entirely new field, and then find the best possible way to share it.
How has it changed in an era of immersive experiences, digital exhibition components and more focus on storytelling coupled with shorter attention spans?
Museums today welcome audiences with very different expectations and ways of engaging with culture. We also have generations who have grown up with a smartphone in their hands. That inevitably changes how they discover information, learn and interact with the world. Our challenge is to create experiences that speak to all of those audiences, offering different ways into the same story without compromising the quality of the content.
Whether visitors are discovering an ancient artifact, a scientific breakthrough or a historical document, they’re always asking the same question: Why does this matter to me? Our role is to create that connection.
What’s fascinating is that many museum subjects are already part of our collective imagination. Ancient Egypt, Greek mythology, dinosaurs or natural history have all been brought to life through films, novels, television and comic books. Young visitors often arrive with references and expectations long before they enter the museum.
That’s where museums have something unique to offer: authenticity. They are the place where fiction meets reality, where people encounter the original object, the real evidence and the richer story behind what they thought they already knew.
Technology has transformed museums enormously over the past 20 years. Digital media, immersive experiences and, more recently, artificial intelligence have opened up entirely new ways of telling stories, encouraging participation and making complex subjects more accessible. But I don’t believe technology should ever become the destination. We’re actually seeing a growing demand for hybrid experiences. Visitors still want to stand in front of the authentic object. I was recently discussing this with the director of the Musée de l’Armée in Paris, who told me that visitors always have their favorite objects, the real sword, the real uniform, the artifact that carries history. Nothing replaces the emotion of seeing the original.
Technology should simply enrich that encounter. It’s particularly valuable for helping children and school groups engage with collections in more active ways, encouraging curiosity and creating new paths to learning.
For me, that’s the future of museums: authentic objects at the heart of the experience, enhanced by thoughtful storytelling and technologies that deepen understanding rather than distract from it.
Putting yourself in the shoes of a consumer of exhibitions, what’s something you feel institutions get wrong when designing them? What are the pitfalls that are most difficult to avoid?
I actually think museums deserve much more credit than they sometimes receive. Whether we’re talking about permanent galleries or temporary exhibitions, the overall quality is incredibly high. Curators and museum teams do an extraordinary job, and I think visitors don’t always realize the amount of research, care and expertise behind every exhibition.
When it comes to temporary exhibitions, the challenge is often about finding the right balance. There will always be blockbuster exhibitions around universally recognized artists or subjects because they naturally attract large audiences. They’re important, they introduce millions of people to art and culture.
But museums also have another responsibility: to champion artists, ideas and stories that deserve greater recognition. Sometimes those exhibitions become wonderful discoveries for visitors.
I experienced this recently at the Grand Palais Immersif, where we presented Miguel Chevalier’s first major solo exhibition in Paris. His work explores artificial intelligence, digital creation and our relationship with technology through immersive installations. It wasn’t the most obvious blockbuster on paper, but it deeply connected with audiences because the themes resonated with questions people are asking today.
I think that’s where museums are at their best: when they combine cultural ambition with public engagement. It’s not about choosing between popular and challenging, it’s about making ambitious ideas accessible and meaningful.
For permanent museums, the challenge is slightly different. These are places designed to last for decades, so the question becomes: how do you create galleries that remain relevant as knowledge evolves, technologies change and audiences change? Flexibility is becoming increasingly important.
Ultimately, I don’t think museums should simply be places that display collections. They should be living cultural institutions, places people want to return to, not just because there’s something new to see, but because they continue to inspire curiosity, conversation and discovery.
Can you share a recent project you feel is emblematic of the future of museum and exhibition design? What made it cutting-edge?
One project that perfectly illustrates where I think museums are heading is a visitor experience we’re currently developing for Gandhi’s Ashram in Ahmedabad, in the Indian state of Gujarat. It’s a remarkable place because it isn’t a museum that was built from scratch. It’s the actual site where Gandhi lived and worked. Visitors move through the different houses that made up the Ashram, the school, the printing house where the newspaper was produced, the kitchen, the spaces where khadi was woven, and the house where Gandhi welcomed friends and political leaders.
Rather than creating a traditional chronological exhibition, we proposed a very different approach. The experience is built around Gandhi’s personality and the values that shaped his life. As visitors move through the Ashram, they don’t simply learn what happened there, they discover the principles that guided his daily actions and experience those ideas through the places where he lived them.
What’s particularly exciting is that the architecture itself dictates the storytelling. Because the buildings are protected heritage, we can’t transform them or hide them behind exhibition design. We have to respect their simplicity and authenticity. That constraint pushes us to be even more creative. Every intervention has to feel natural, almost invisible, while enriching visitors’ understanding of the place.
At the same time, we know the Ashram welcomes large numbers of school groups every year. Every space therefore has to work on several levels: it needs to be historically accurate, emotionally engaging, educational and interactive enough for younger audiences, while always respecting the integrity of the site.
For me, this project perfectly illustrates the direction museums are taking. It’s not about adding more technology or creating bigger spectacles. It’s about bringing architecture, storytelling and education together so naturally that visitors simply experience the place rather than the exhibition. When that happens, history stops feeling like something to observe and becomes something people genuinely connect with.
In another vein, Museum Studio was engaged to ensure the V&A East business case was realistic and accurate. That sounds like very different work, or do you see it as related?
That particular assignment was led by our partners, Lord Cultural Resources, who specialize in cultural planning and strategy. But for us, it’s very much part of the same journey. People often imagine that museums begin with architecture or exhibition design. In reality, they begin much earlier, with a vision.
Very often, we’re involved when there’s little more than an idea. A city wants to create a museum, a foundation wants to launch a cultural institution, or an industrial site is looking for a new future. Before anyone starts designing galleries, you first have to answer some fundamental questions: Why does this project need to exist? Who is it for? What will make it distinctive? And how will it remain relevant over time?
That’s what we call master planning. It’s about turning an ambition into a viable institution. We look at everything that will make the project successful in the long term: its program, its audiences, its operating model and, of course, its economic sustainability.
We test the long-term viability of the institution by looking first at its core sources of revenue: ticket sales, philanthropy and donations, and corporate sponsorship. We then assess the complementary revenue streams that strengthen the business model, including retail, food and beverage, venue hire and, where relevant, public funding. But revenue is only one side of the equation. We also evaluate the long-term investment needed to renew exhibitions, maintain the buildings and ensure the museum continues to evolve over the decades. Opening a museum is not the finish line; it’s the beginning.
What does it mean to you to be a “cultural catalyst”?
At Museum Studio, we often describe ourselves in two ways: as Cultural Catalysts and Cultural Asset Developers. I think those two ideas are deeply connected.
Being a Cultural Catalyst means bringing together everything that’s needed to make a cultural project succeed. One of our strengths is that we can support a project from the very first idea all the way through to opening and sometimes even beyond. That ability to connect every stage of the process is what we mean by being a catalyst. But it’s also about people.
The museum world is actually a relatively small ecosystem filled with extraordinary talents. Part of our role is to bring those people together around ambitious projects and create the conditions for collaboration. We see ourselves as catalysts not only for our clients, but also for the wider cultural community.
The second idea, that of being a Cultural Asset Developer, reflects another important belief. Culture creates value. Of course, museums create intellectual, educational and social value. They preserve heritage, inspire curiosity and strengthen communities. But they also create economic value. A successful cultural institution transforms a neighborhood, attracts visitors, supports local businesses and becomes a long-term asset for a city or a region.
That’s why we spend so much time thinking about sustainability from the very beginning. We want to create institutions that people will still want to visit decades from now, places that continue to evolve, remain financially resilient and have a lasting impact on both society and their local economy. Ultimately, our ambition isn’t simply to create museums. It’s to create cultural institutions that people will still value, visit and love for generations to come.
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Christa Terry
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