Michael Howells
Creative Director of Port Eliot Festival & curator of the Flower Show
A production designer and art director working both in film and in fashion, Michael Howells is credited with realising some of the most spectacular and ambitious sets in either field.
The Creative Director of Port Eliot Festival, Howells has created the set desgins for the stages and curated and designed the ground breaking and now infamous Flower Show, as well as being involved in most aspects of the festival all year round. His Art Dept of 20 strong young people has become a proving ground for some of the brightest new stars in the design world.
Howells is closely aligned with many of the highest-profile practitioners in fashion, Howells has designed numerous sets for John Galliano's Christian Dior and own name fashion shows; Howells has also realised catwalk presentations for Christian Lacroix and Alexander McQueen.
Creative relationships with photographers Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier and particularly a longstanding collaboration with Nick Knight, have seen Howells create sets for many of the major advertising campaigns, including those for Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.
Howells is equally acclaimed for his work in the performing arts. His career in film boasts production design for titles including 'Bright Young Things' with Stephen Fry, 'Shackleton' with Charles Sturridge, 'About Time Too' and 'Miss Julie' with Mike Figgis, 'An Ideal Husband', 'Emma' starring Gwyneth Paltrow and 'Nanny McPhee' starring Emma Thompson. Howells' theatre design credits include MSM/DV8 Physical Theatre at The Royal Court, 'Towards Poetry' for The Royal Ballet, 'Derdemon' for the Statsoper, Berlin, 'Julius Tomb’ for Mark Baldwin Company and 'Constant Speed' celebrating Einstein's Centenary for the Rambert Ballet, 2005. He was made Associate Designer at Rambert in 2009.
Such diverse projects have led to an array of additional projects ranging from designing Kate Moss' 30th birthday 'The Beautiful & The Damned' to an imaginative strand of the interior of Comme des Garcons' Dover Street Market to set design for a Gwen Stefani's 'Love. Angel. Music. Baby' video. Howells' exhibitions include Ferragamo's Cinderella (1998) at the Florence Biennale and 'Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones' exhibition at the V&A (2009). In 2007 Howells won the Prix d'Excellence de la Mode in Paris and the first Isabella Blow award for Fashion Creator of the Year from the British Fashion Council.
