Jon is a multi award winning international stage designer and creative director.
He studied Fine Art at Exeter College of Art and Music at Oxford University before training on the Motley Theatre Design Course in London. On graduation he was a finalist in the Linbury Prize for Stage Design.
Jon designed the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and the kinetic sculpture to light the flame for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Over the last 17 years Jon has designed extensively in dance, opera and theatre for companies worldwide including The Royal Opera House, National Theatre, London, National Theatres of Scotland and Wales, Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Toho Stage, Japan, both Finnish and Norwegian National Ballets and for many Broadway and West End stages. He is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Recent Theatre design includes: BAT OUT OF HELL, the Meatloaf musical (London/ Germany/ New York/ Toronto- nominated Best Design Whats on Stage awards); TREE with Idris Elba (Manchester International Festival/ Young Vic); TRUE WEST (West End); KNIGHTS’ TALE (Imperial Theatre/Toho Stage, Tokyo); FATHERLAND (with the band Underworld and Frantic Assembly for Manchester International Festival); THE BAND- the Take That musical (UK Tour); THE GRINNING MAN (Bristol Old Vic/Trafalgar Studios- WINNER Best Design UK Theatre awards); THE JAMES PLAYS (National Theatre/ National Theatre of Scotland/ World tour); KURSK (Sound and Fury/Young Vic/ Sydney Opera House- nominated Best Design Evening Standard awards); GHOST STORIES (West End/ Toronto/ Moscow); PETER PAN, THE LORD OF THE FLIES (Evening Standard award nomination for Best Design- Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); MAMETZ (National Theatre of Wales- WINNER Best Design UK Theatre awards, WINNER Welsh Theatre awards); YOU FOR ME FOR YOU (Royal Court- nominated Best Design Evening Standard awards); I AM YUSUF (Shebbahurr, Palestine/ Young Vic, London), WATER (Filter/ Lyric/ BAM); LIONBOY (Complicité), and PLOUGH AND THE STARS (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/ Melbourne/ New York/ Boston).
As an associate artist of the RSC he has designed numerous productions including HAMLET, KING LEAR, THE WINTER’S TALE and the entire 2012 What Country Friends Is This? season.
Dance includes: THE NUTCRACKER (also co director) and FIREBIRD (Norwegian National Ballet); HANSEL AND GRETEL, GHOSTS, PLEASURE’S PROGRESS (Royal Opera House); SCRIBBLINGS (Rambert); BLOOD WEDDING (Finnish National Ballet), HOWL (Bern Ballet), SNOW WHITE IN BLACK (Phoenix Dance Theatre); IN MEDIA RES (Nederlands Dans Theater); LEST WE FORGET (English National Ballet).
Opera includes: WALKÜRIE (Bordeaux National Opera); CENDRILLON (Glyndebourne); THE KNOT GARDEN (Theatre an der Wien); AGRIPPINA (Grange Park Opera); QUEEN OF SPADES (Festival Theatre, Edinburgh); THE LIGHTHOUSE (Teatro Poliziano, Montepulciano) and THE SOLDIER’S TALE (Old Vic, London/ Iraq).
Other work outside of theatre includes the ONE MILLIONTH RUNNER Opening Ceremony for the GREAT NORTH RUN staged on the Tyne River in Newcastle in 2015, art direction and production design for short films and television shows including COOLBOX (BBC Film, directed by David Farr), SNOW ON SATURDAY (Film Four, directed by Imogen Stubbs) and RENFORD REJECTS for Nickelodeon. His stage design work is currently exhibited in the V & A Museum In London as part of World Stages.
He proudly serves on the board of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design.