ABOUT CM
Catherine Martin, costume and production designer, has collaborated with Baz Luhrmann, director and visualist, on the distinctive look of all his films and theatre productions for over 30years. Along with Luhrmann, Martin is a partner in Bazmark Inq, which includes subsidiaries Bazmark Live and Bazmark Music, and is one of the world’s most innovative producers of film, theatre and entertainment.
Martin began collaborating with Luhrmann during her final year at NIDA, when she was hired by Luhrmann's experimental theatre company to design his production of Lake Lost for the Australian Opera. This earned Martin and colleague Angus Strathie a Victorian Green Room Award for Best Design.
Since then, Martin has designed almost all of Luhrmann’s subsequent productions including Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for which she won the Sydney Theatre Critic’s Award for Best Opera Design, and a version of Puccini’s opera La Boheme set in 1957. The latterwent on to open on Broadway in 2002 to critical acclaim and won Martin a Tony Award® for Production Design.
In 1992 Martin began designing for film and partnered with Luhrmann on his hugely successful film debut Strictly Ballroom. Her work garnered two BAFTA awards for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, and an AFI award for Best Production Design.
She followed this success in 1996 with William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, also directed by Luhrmann, for which she received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Art Direction and won another BAFTA for Best Production Design.
In 2001, Martin’s acclaimed design work on Moulin Rouge! won her two Academy Awards® for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction, two AFI awards for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, and a Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Production Design, among
other accolades.
Martin co-produced Luhrmann’s epic Australia in 2008 and was also the film’s production designer and costume designer. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, the film earned Martin an Academy Award® nomination for Best Costume Design.
Martin’s additional projects with Luhrmann include guest editing the first signature edition of Vogue Australia (January, 1994) and designing the look of 2004’s lavish Chanel No. 5: The Film, a global campaign starring Nicole Kidman for which Martin designed sets, while legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld designed costumes. Following up on the success of their first Chanel campaign, Luhrmann created and directed another Chanel No. 5 film starring Gisele Bundchen with Production Design by Martin and Costumes by Karl Lagerfeld.
Martin has also developed her own homewares brand, Catherine Martin Designs, collaborating with Designer Rugs and Mokum Textiles on fabrics and wallpaper. Her rugs and fabrics feature prominently in the Faena Hotel, Miami Beach.
In addition to winning two Academy Awards® for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design for her work on Luhrmann’s 2013 film The Great Gatsby, Martin was also a producer.
In 2014 Martin worked as both Costume Designer and Set Designer on Luhrmann’s stage production of Strictly Ballroom The Musical.
Martin Executive Produced Luhrmann’s Netflix Original Series The Get Down (2016), and shared Co-Costume Designer and Co-Production Designer credits with Jeriana San Juan and Karen Murphy respectively on Episode One.
Most recently, Martin Executive Produced Luhrmann's latest movie Elvis (2022) where she both Co-Production and Costume Designed. The film earned Martin Best Film, Best Costume Design and Production Design Awards from AACTA, Best Costume Design from BAFTA and Academy Award nominations.
Martin divides her time between the Gold Coast, New York and Paris and has two beautiful children, Lillian and Egg.