Michael has spent more than four decades working with hair, hands, and history.
Trained originally as a hairdresser, his path into wig making grew through theatre, shaped by live performance, collaboration, and an extraordinary period of intensive training made possible through a rare arts grant. What followed was a career embedded in Queensland’s cultural institutions, where precision, adaptability, and trust are everything.
Wig making is meticulous, physical work. Each knot is placed by hand. Each decision balances the vision of designers with the realities of performers’ bodies, movement, and time. Over years of practice, Michael has learned not only the techniques passed down to him, but how to adapt them, finding his own way while honouring the lineage he comes from.
Today, he works across ballet, theatre, and performance, carrying deep concern for the future of the craft. With few young people entering the field, succession and knowledge-sharing have become as important as the work itself.
Listen as Michael speaks about learning, adapting, and the quiet responsibility of holding a rare skill in his hands.
