About

James Stibilj is a set and costume designer for stage and screen.

James completed a Bachelor’s degree in Design For Live Performance at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 2023. Prior to this he received a certificate III in Fashion Design at TAFE. Mentored under leading stage designers including Stephen Curtis, Robert Cousins and Jeniffer Irwin, James has worked on theoretical designs for Frankenstein, The Tempest and Katya Kabanova. He has costume assisted for the STC/NIDA co-production EAT ME (2021), Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Opera (2021), Disney’s The Artful Dodger (2022) and was associate costume designer on location in Toulouse for Karen Pearlman’s upcoming film Breaking Plates (2022). In his final year of study, he completed the costume and set design for Threepenny Opera directed by John Bashford, Costume Design for Sweeney Todd directed by Constantine Costi , and the Set and Props Design for Sandaime Richard directed by Ong Keng Sen. His work on Sweeney Todd and Sandaime Richard were both nominated for the 2024 Emerging Designer APDG Award, with the latter winning.

James was the recipient of the Robert Helpmann and the Tim Fairfax scholarships during his study, and was recognised by the APDG as an Outstanding Production Design student of 2023.

Since graduating, James has been working in film and theatre as a design assistant. He has undertaken design secondments internationally at the Teatro dell' Opera di Roma, Polish National Opera and in early 2025, the Bayerische Staatsoper with the support of the Leslie Walford AM Award.

Alongside his work in stage and screen design, James is an award winning illustrator.