Michael Rowe was born at High Wycombe in 1948. He studied at High Wycombe College of Art and then at the Royal College of Art under Professor Robert Goodden, graduating in 1972. He set up his own silversmithing studio in London the same year.

During the period 1973-84 he was a visiting lecturer at Camberwell College of Art, Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education and the Royal College of Art. Since 1984 he has been the Senior Tutor in metalwork and jewellery at the Royal College of Art. Michael Rowe is co-author with Richard Hughes of the book "The Colouring, Bronzing and Patination of Metals". He is a Freeman of the Goldsmiths' Company, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal College of Art. In 1988 he was the winner of the Sotheby's Decorative Arts Award and in 1993 he was awarded a Japan Foundation Artists Fellowship.

Michael Rowe has had solo exhibitions in England, Germany and Holland and taken part in numerous group exhibitions in Europe, the United States of America, Australia and the Far East. His work may be seen in public collections worldwide including the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth and the MusČe des Arts Decoratifs, Paris.