Photo: Amanda Hitten

Info

Hi! I'm a set and costume designer with over ten years of experience, passionate about crafting visual storytelling for live performance.

I've designed for diverse settings ranging from the Arts Centre Melbourne to a former convent, extending to art direction, set design and styling for fashion runways, music videos, and television commercials. I hold undergraduate and master's degrees in theatre design from the VCA, where I earned the Trina Parker Scholarship in Design, and now sessionally lecture.

Equally excited by new writing and classic texts, I'm passionate about work that lends a human scale to diverse perspectives and complex issues. Through a tactile approach to the design process, my handcrafted models and illustrations result in expressive visual storytelling that sensitively supports a script’s dramaturgy.

Recent work includes the VCE Playlisted The World According to Dinosaurs (Frenzy Theatre regional tour), and Lemon Tree on Dreg Street and promiscuous/cities at Theatre Works, with my costume designs for the latter nominated for an Australian Production Design Guild Award in 2022.

Other highlights include The Mentor starring Amanda Muggleton (Theatre Works), The Lighthouse (BK Opera/Brunswick Mechanics Institute), If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You (Gavin Roach Presents/Arts House Meat Market), and award-winning productions of The Leenane Trilogy (fortyfivedownstairs/Kin Collective) and Hart (SheSaid). My portfolio extends to projects with St Martins Youth Arts Centre, Dancehouse, Union House Theatre, Riot Stage, Darebin Speakeasy and La Mama.

Screen credits as production designer and/or costume stylist includes music videos for Justin Bieber, Something For Kate, The Cat Empire and Alison Wonderland, and television commercials for Rebel, Blue Illusion and NAB. Event design highlights include runway events for Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, Melbourne Spring Fashion Week and Emporium Melbourne.

In 2022, I assisted Kate Davis on Looking For Alibrandi (Malthouse/Belvoir) and YES (The Rabble), and I've assisted designers including Richard Roberts, Christina Smith, Zoë Atkinson, and Adam Gardnir on productions at most major Australian companies.

( SKILLS )

Modelmaking

Vectorworks drafting and modelling

Digital and mixed-media analogue illustration

3D printing

Costume and props buying

Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign

( SAY HELLO )

I’m always excited to hear about potential projects, and bring authenticity and openness to every creative collaboration.

( AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS )

MentorAPDG Mentorship with Simone Romaniuk, 2023 - 2024

APDG Nomination for Emerging Designer for Live Performance, 2022

Trina Parker Scholarship in Design – VCA, 2021

Green Room Nomination for Production (Independent) – Hart

Melbourne Fringe NZ Tour Ready Award – Hart

Melbourne Fringe SA Tour Ready Award – Hart

Catapult Mentorship with Marg Horwell, St Martins Youth Arts Centre, 2013

( EDUCATION )

MA Design for Performance — VCA, 2021

BA Production, major in Set and Costume Design — VCA 2012

Let's make some magic ✨

I'd love to hear about your project – coffee's on me.

I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians of the unceded land on which I work. I pay my respects to Elders, past and present, and acknowledge their connection to creativity, culture and storytelling. Sovereignty has never been ceded.

© 2024 Casey Harper-Wood. All rights reserved.

Let's make some magic ✨

I'd love to hear about your project – coffee's on me.

I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians of the unceded land on which I work. I pay my respects to Elders, past and present, and acknowledge their connection to creativity, culture and storytelling. Sovereignty has never been ceded.

© 2024 Casey Harper-Wood. All rights reserved.

Let's make some magic ✨

I'd love to hear about your project – coffee's on me.

I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians of the unceded land on which I work. I pay my respects to Elders, past and present, and acknowledge their connection to creativity, culture and storytelling. Sovereignty has never been ceded.

© 2024 Casey Harper-Wood. All rights reserved.