Ella Hough is set designer from Toronto, Canada. She is currently pursuing her MFA in set design at Yale University (Class of 2028).

While her time at Yale marks the beginning of Ella’s set design career, she brings along her previous experience in visual arts, public space design, and cooking. Ella specialized in visual arts at Etobicoke School of the Arts High School. She then pursued an art history degree from McGill University, while set designing extracurricularly (A Doll’s House, A History of Breathing). After graduation, Ella was selected as the 2023 Public Space Fellow at the Bentway Conservancy (Toronto). Her research culminated in the design and production of a bench made from the materials of a deconstructed Toronto home. It still lives in their public space. At this time, Ella began an art and design collective, The Garden. Her and her collaborators created Window Series 1, a dance piece projected on the frosted first story windows of a Toronto home. This piece was later re-installed at Namara Gallery (Toronto). This collective also led to the founding of Public Washrooms TO, an advocacy and design group for more and better public washrooms. They staged interventions around the city proposing playful, effective, and inclusive public washroom design. Alongside her creative pursuits, Ella spent three years as sous-chef at Stop Restaurant (3rd Best New Restaurant in Toronto, Toronto Star, 2025). Working closely to bring the Chef’s vision to life, Ella sharpened the collaboration and communication skills that she now brings to her set design process.