Jean Chan studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Graduating in 2008 with a BA Hons Degree in Theatre Design. She went on to work as a resident designer, part of the Royal Shakespeare Companys Trainee Design Programme 2008–09. In 2009 she won the Linbury Prize for Stage Design.
Theatre Designs include: Rise (Bradford 2025, UK City of Culture); Lost and Found (Factory International, Manchester); The Meaning of Zong (Barbican and Bristol Old Vic); Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Nights Dream (Shakespeares Globe); Reason You Should(nt) Love Me, The Darkest Part of the Night (Kiln Theatre); Pinocchio, Garbage King (Unicorn Theatre); Open Mic (ETT/Soho Theatre), Wild Goose, Plastic (Theatre Royal Bath); This Girl Laughs This Girl Cries This Girl Does Nothing (Stellar Quines); Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk (Lyric Hammersmith); Ticking (Trafalgar Studios); The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG (Dundee Rep); Jumpy, Hedda Gabler (The Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh); The Season Ticket (Pilot Theatre and Northern Stage); Cyrano De Bergerac (The Royal & Derngate/ Northern Stage); Petula, Mother Courage, Bordergames, Tonypandemonium (National Theatre Wales).
Costume designs include: Becoming Nancy (Birmingham Rep); Miss Saigon (Scenekvelder, Oslo); Legally Blonde (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); Knights Tale (Toho Theatre, Japan); The Grinning Man (Trafalgar Studios/Bristol Old Vic); Aladdin (Lyric Hammersmith); Lionboy (Complicite).
Opera designs include: La Calisto (Longborough Opera Festival)
Associate designs include: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Theatre Cocoon, Japan); The James Plays (National Theatre Scotland and Great Britain); Lionboy (Complicite); Five Guys Named Moe (Underbelly/Theatre Royal Stratford East); Monsters (Arcola Theatre).