Florence von Gerkan
Florence von Gerkan was born in Hamburg, studied at the University of the Arts in Berlin and works all around the world as a freelance costume designer in theatre, opera and ballet. She has worked at many leading institutions including the Thalia Theater Hamburg, Schaubühne Berlin, Theater Basel, Théâtre Vidy, Zurich Opera House, the Stuttgart State Theatre, La Scala Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Vienna State Opera, the Bayreuth Festival, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Artists with whom she has worked include Jürgen Flimm, Wilfried Minks, Erich Wonder, Andrea Breth, Cesare Lievi, Peter Mussbach, Tatjana Gürbaca, Thomas Langhoff and the Swiss film director Daniel Schmid. She has enjoyed a working relationship over many years with Heiner Goebbels. Most recently she created the costumes for his productions Eraritjaritjaka (2004), I went to the house but did not enter (2008), Europeras 1 & 2 ( John Cage) and When the mountain changed its clothing (2012). Florence von Gerkan lives in Berlin. Since 2003 she has led the costume design course at the city’s University of the Arts.