Kanye set designer joins the Brits

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Es DevlinImage source, AP
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The British-born designer won an Olivier Award earlier this year

Es Devlin, who has created spectacular tours for Kanye West and Take That, is to design the stage for next year's Brit Awards, organisers have announced.

The British artist also designed the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, and recently won an Olivier Award for her work on Chimerica.

The play, inspired by events in China's Tiannenmen Square in 1989, had a rotating set described as a "theatrical Rubik's cube".

The 2015 Brits will be on 25 February.

The ceremony will be held at London's O2 arena for the fifth year running - but host James Corden has stepped down.

His replacement is yet to be announced.

Devlin, who trained at the Central St Martin School of Arts, began her career in theatre, but has branched out to work in pop, rock, ballet, theatre and opera, as well as creating films for the BFI and videos for artists such as Imogen Heap.

Speaking to Vice magazine, external last year, she said the multi-disciplinary approach helped her stay innovative.

"I've found that technology is advancing much more quickly in pop than it is in theatre, just because of the budgets involved," she said.

"So things I'm learning in, say, my collaborations with U2 and my collaboration with Kanye [and] I'm taking all those things and those people and ideas back into the Royal Opera House, or back into the Met."

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One of the designer's most recent projects is Miley Cyrus's world tour, which took a playful approach to the singer's predilection for sticking her tongue out

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Devlin put the Spice Girls on top of five London taxis at the Olympics Closing Ceremony

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The ceremony ended with the Olympic Stadium transformed into a giant Union Jack

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Take That's £10m Circus tour saw the band perform on top of a 30ft mechanical elephant

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For Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne tour, Devlin placed the rappers on opposite sides of the arena, trading lines from the top of giant, illuminated cubes

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She collaborated with West again on the 2013 Yeezus tour, creating a set based around mountains and icebergs. Devlin described the rapper's show as "performance art".

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Her theatre productions include the musical staging of Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, starring Matt Smith (left)

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Devlin created this striking production of Wagner's Parsifal for the Royal Danish Opera

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She won an Olivier Award for her work on Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre earlier this year

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Her set for the 2011 Batman arena tour featured a dense, imposing "pop-up Gotham City"

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Devlin previously worked on the Brits in 2009, creating this set for the Pet Shop Boys, who won the outstanding contribution award

Organisers also announced on Thursday that Warner Music's chief executive, Max Lousada, would be the new chair of the Brits Committee.

"The BRITs is the UK's biggest showcase for music talent and one of the most anticipated events in the global entertainment calendar," he said, "so to lead the team behind it is both a great honour and an exciting challenge."

This year's ceremony saw the Arctic Monkeys and One Direction receive two awards, while David Bowie and Ellie Goulding were named best British male and female artist respectively.

Viewing figures for the show dropped, however, with 4.6 million watching ITV's live UK broadcast, compared to 6.5 million in 2013.

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