Benjamin Burton (he/him) is a New York City-based costume designer with extensive experience in film, theater, opera, and dance. He holds an MFA in Costume Design from NYU, a BFA in Dramaturgy from the University of Oklahoma, and a union membership with United Scenic Artists Local 829.
Benjamin's love of storytelling began in an Ethiopian village, Kiremu, where he grew up creating new worlds out of the poinsettia bushes and eucalyptus trees. He later taught himself to knit from a book and unearthed a love for textiles and handiwork. Design allows him to marry his passions for story and craft, and he has never looked back.
Deeply interested in myth and ritual, Benjamin embraces the absurd and the profound with equal enthusiasm. Interdisciplinary work with masks, puppets, props, and environments is particularly exciting to him, and his favorite projects stretch our ideas of what's possible -- emotionally, politically, and practically.
In addition to his design work, Benjamin has managed productions of every size as an associate and assistant. From basement theater to Broadway, indie shorts to HBO series, this range of experience allows Benjamin to scale his designs without compromising their artistic values.
Benjamin is the recipient of the Martin Pakledinaz Memorial Award from the NYU Department of Design, as well as Craft Awards for Costume Design and Production Design from the First Run Film Festival.
Outside the studio, Benjamin can usually be found running along the Hudson River or tucked away with his nose in a book. He is currently reading Joseph Campbell's The Masks of God and Victor Turner's The Ritual Process.
You can contact Benjamin at benjxburton@gmail.com.