Magda Willi was born in Zurich in 1978. She studied stage design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. In 2004, Magda Willi moved to Berlin. From 2004 to 2008, she worked at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, first as an assistant and then as a stage designer from 2005 onwards. Since 2008, she has been working as a freelance scenographer in theatres in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Austria and Switzerland. In 2013, Magda Willi joined the creative team of Shermin Langhoff and Jens Hillje, who took over the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, where she held the position of head of scenography until 2017.In 2014, she designed the sets for the Young Vic Theatre's production of A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Benedict Andrews. Her other shows in London include the Young Vic's production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, directed by Benedict Andrews at the Apollo Theatre, and Jesus Hopped The A Train, directed by Kate Hewitt at the Young Vic Theatre. In June 2015, Magda Willi was among the winners of the Swiss Design Awards for her work. Her productions Verrücktes Blut, directed by Nurkan Erpulat, Don Carlos, directed by Roger Vontobel, and Common Ground, directed by Yael Ronen, were performed at the Berliner Theatertreffen.Since she began working as a set designer in 2005, Magda Willi has collaborated with numerous directors, including Thomas Ostermeier, Kate Hewitt, Marius von Mayenburg, John Fulljames, Egill Palsson, Hakan Savas Mican, Ayham Majid Agha, Ingo Berk, Maximilian von Mayenburg and the Turbo Pascal theatre company. Her opera set designs include Così fan tutte (Bayerische Staatsoper), The Threepenny Opera (Festival d'Aix-en-Provence), Rigoletto (Göteborgsoperan), The Abduction from the Seraglio (Volksoper Wien) and Germania (Opéra national de Lyon). In 2024, Magda Willi created the sets for two ballets: For Hedy by Meryl Tankard and Rhapsodies by Mthuthuzeli November for the Ballett Zürich.

Magda WilliSet design