Magda Willi, born 1978 in Zurich, studied set and costume design in London at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. In 2004 she began working at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz Berlin; initially she was an assistant to Jan Pappelbaum, then became a staff set and costume designer in 2005. At the Schaubühne she designed sets for directors such as Benedict Andrews and Thomas Ostermeier. In 2008 Willi began working as a freelancer and has since collaborated with Nurkan Erpulat, Sebastian Nübling, Yael Ronen, Roger Vontobel, opera directors Max von Mayenburg and John Fulljames, and the theatre collective Turbo Pascal. In 2010, two of her productions were honoured with invitations to the Theatertreffen festival: Verrücktes Blut (Mad Blood), and Don Carlos, directed by Roger Vontobel at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. 2015 she won the Swiss Design Award for her work. Other theatres that have engaged Willi include the Deutsches Theater Berlin, Deutsche Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Theater Basel, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Volkstheater Wien and the Young Vic Theatre in London.