John Macfarlane studied at Glasgow School of Art and pursues careers in theatre and painting. Dance designs include Sir Peter Wright’s Giselle (The Royal Ballet), Glen Tetley’s La Ronde and Liam Scarlett’s Frankenstein, Asphodel Meadows, Sweet Violets and The Age of Anxiety (Royal Ballet), Hummingbird (San Francisco Ballet), and The Nutcracker and Cinderella (Birmingham Royal Ballet). In 2018 he designed the sets and costumes for Swan Lake (Royal Ballet). Opera designs include Peter Grimes, Die Zauberflöte, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and L’Heure espagnole/Gianni Schicchi (Royal Opera), Hansel and Gretel (WNO, Metropolitan Opera, New York), Queen of Spades (WNO), War and Peace (Opéra Bastille), La Clemenza di Tito (Paris Opéra), Trojans (ENO), Don Giovanni (La Monnaie, San Francisco), Elektra and Rusalka (Chicago), The Rake’s Progress (Scottish Opera) and recently Maria Stuarda, Tosca, The Flying Dutchman and Agrippina (all for Metropolitan Opera) and Macbeth (Chicago).In both 2015 (Hummingbird) and 2019 (Swan Lake) he was awarded the Designer Laureate of Benois de la Danse (Moscow). In 2021 John was awarded Outstanding Creative Contribution by the Critics Circle at the National Dance Awards (London). In 2026 he was honoured with the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design (New York).His published works include John Macfarlane – Theatre Design and Studio (2024).