JAMES IS A MONTRÉAL BASED SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER FOR THEATRE, CIRCUS AND LIVE EVENTS

He has designed over 100 productions that have been experienced by audiences across North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle-East. His multifaceted work includes both set design and costume designs, often both on the same production. He also works as production designer overseeing all visual aspects of a show, including props, puppets and video to create coherent visual narratives.  

He holds a Master’s Degree from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (London, UK) in Scenography: performance design and practice.

A regular collaborator of the Cirque Du Soleil, James designed the costumes for their permanent show, JOYA in Riviera Maya, Mexico which has been playing since 2014. In 2019 he designed the costumes for MESSI10, premiering in Barcelona before continuing on its world tour, and that same year he created the costumes for ‘Twas the Night Before, premiering at New York’s Madison Square Gardens.  In 2018 he was the costume designer for BAZAAR, which premiered in India has been touring the world since. In 2017 he designed the costumes for REFLEKT for EXPO17 in Astana, Kazakhstan.  He has also designed two years of Les Chemins Invisible in Quebec City, including set and costume design for Les Chemins Invisible chapter 4, The Pixel Frontier. 

He recently worked with the 7 Doigts de la Main to design the costumes for their show The Last Chapter in the United Arab Emirates.  He has also regularly collaborated with the Chilean Circus company Siete Comunicaciones to design sets and costumes for their South American tour of Circo Jumbo from 2015-2018.

In theatre, James’ work has been recognized 6 times by the Montreal Critics Circle Awards (MECCA) and Montreal English theatre Awards (META) for best costume design in 2001, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2013 and best set design in 2009.  He has also received Ottawa’s Capital Critic’s Circle Award for best set and costume Design in 2014.  Other notable theatre productions include; set and costume design for Grease produced by Just for Laughs in Montréal, set and costume design for Innocence Lost at Canada’s National Art’s Center and the Segal Center’s Sherlock featuring Jay Baruchel and the subsequent North American tour featuring David Arquette.

From 2009 - 2018 James was a regular coach and teacher for set and costume design students at the National Theatre School of Canada, and a regular guest lecturer at Concordia University.