Graham Maclean was born in Sydney but his long career in theatre design has taken him all over Australia and New Zealand on numerous tours of his plays and musicals. He has also worked in the USA, Vienna and Indonesia and in October 2006 Cloudland, a ballet he devised and created with Francois Klaus for the Queensland Ballet toured Germany.

Graham designed the hugely successful Pirates of Penzance for Simon Gallaher and was twice nominated for the Victorian Green Room Award for HMS Pinafore, an award he won for the sets and costumes for The Mikado. He worked for the Queensland Theatre Company with Alan Edwards and has designed numerous ballets for Queensland Ballet Company, the most recent being The Nutcracker Suite, Romeo & Julietand Carmen. As Resident Designer for the West Australian Opera, Graham has won The Silver Swan Award twice.