Airbnb // Icons Series

Capturing the Magic of Airbnb Icons

Created to launch Airbnb’s newest category of extraordinary stays, the campaign celebrates places and experiences that once felt like pure imagination.

Airbnb Icons offers guests the chance to step into worlds shaped by music, film, art, sport and culture. From gazing outside the Musée D'Orsay Clock, to spending a night inside the Ferrari Museum, or even stepping into Shrek’s iconic swamp, these stays transform fantasy into something tangible. Each experience is designed to feel like stepping directly into a story.

Behind every Icon stay is an extraordinary amount of creative craft. The design and build team, Toy and Robin, were responsible for bringing each environment to life — designing and constructing the spaces that guests would eventually step into. Their work is remarkable, combining detailed world-building with practical design to create spaces that feel both cinematic and real.

Our role at Tiny Ark was to capture each stay in a way that reflected its magic and atmosphere. Rather than simply documenting the locations, we approached each film as a small window into the world of the experience — focusing on mood, texture and the sense of wonder that defines the Icons concept.

One particularly special moment in the series was filming the Airbnb stay created with French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, the artist behind the Paris 2024 Olympic torch. For this experience, a lucky couple will spend the night in the Musée d’Orsay’s iconic Clock Room on the evening of the Olympic Opening Ceremony, overlooking the River Seine. It was an incredible opportunity to capture both the architecture of the museum and the cultural significance of the moment.

Another standout collaboration saw Airbnb partner with House of Sunny to create a stylish and playful stay during London Fashion Week — a project that blended fashion, design and hospitality into a vibrant visual space.

One of the most unique aspects of the production was its scale. The project required filming across several countries in a short period of time, with crews mobilised across London, Paris, Italy and Belgium. Coordinating travel, equipment, and local teams while maintaining a consistent creative approach across each location was a significant challenge.

Each stay came with its own logistical puzzle. Some locations were historic cultural landmarks, while others were highly detailed set builds designed specifically for the experience. Working across different cities meant adapting quickly to new environments, assembling local crews, and ensuring every shoot still felt part of the same creative world.

Despite the complexity, the international nature of the project became one of its strengths. Each location brought its own energy and character to the films, helping reinforce the idea that Airbnb Icons opens doors to extraordinary places across the globe.

Across the series, each stay had its own personality, from cinematic fantasy worlds to iconic cultural landmarks like the Colosseum in Rome. Our challenge as filmmakers was to translate that diversity into a cohesive set of films that still allowed each experience to feel unique.