Michael is a production designer and filmmaker who recently completed Netflix’s limited series KALEIDOSCOPE. Other work with Netflix includes the international thriller series HIT & RUN and season one of Natasha Lyonne’s RUSSIAN DOLL, for which he won both a Primetime Emmy and an Art Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Production Design.
Michael also designed the first season of Megan Abbott’s DARE ME for USA/UCP. Other design standouts include Andrew Bujalski’s Sundance-winning COMPUTER CHESS and Robbie Pickering’s NATURAL SELECTION, winner of the 2011 SXSW Grand Jury Prize.
Additionally, Michael founded PEOPLE FOR URBAN PROGRESS, an Indianapolis non-profit and urban design do-tank. This work has been featured in Dwell, The Huffington Post, and CityLab, and Michael presented PUP’s story at DesignBoom in New York, Brightworks Innovation Day in Toronto, and Creative Mornings in Indianapolis. Through PUP, he was also a featured designer at the 2019 Exhibit Columbus design and architecture biennial.
Michael earned his Master in Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught production design at the University of Texas Film Institute. He has also worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Wabash College. He splits his time between New York, Los Angeles, and Sydney, Australia.