Vita

Ilka Weiss is an internationally experienced set designer, renowned for the captivatingly clean lines and aesthetics of her work. Ilka's sets focus on the very core of the dramatic productions they adorn and she creates atmospheric backdrops that make an indelible impression. She skilfully interweaves her images with the storyline, the music and the director's interpretation.

When studying architecture at university in Kaiserslautern, Ilka started working in the costume and set design departments at the local Pfalztheater. She then worked as an assistant set designer at Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the main theatre for the historical province of Baden. Amongst the famous names of those she worked with are artist Johannes Grützke and the set and costume designers Carlo Tommasi and Roland Aeschlimann.

From 2000 to 2009 Ilka worked as personal assistant to Roland Aeschlimann. Over this time she was overseeing set design for productions at prestigious venues, such as the Berlin State Opera House and the opera houses in Leipzig, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, but also outside Germany at Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels and the Grand Théâtre in Geneva. She also supervised set designs for festival productions in Aix-en-Provence, Innsbruck and Schwetzingen.

Her debut set design was in 2005 with the operetta "Clivia" (composed by Nico Dostal) at Staatstheater Mainz. A year later her opera debut for Humperdinck's “Hansel and Gretel”, delighted audiences in Mainz once again.

Ilka completed her artistic training with a Master's at University of the Arts London. She now lives just outside London and became a member of the Society of British Theatre Designers in 2014. Her last set took her back to Germany for an adaptation of Theodor Fontane's classic novel "Effi Briest" at the Alte Schauspielhaus Stuttgart. By 2018 Ilka was working on the third “GAP Festival” in Goring & Streatley.