Manja Beneke, born in Berlin, completed her training as a dressmaker at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1999 to 2002. After a four-year stint as a journeywoman at the Berlin Opera, she began her garment master training in Hamburg in 2006. Since her successful graduation in 2008, she has been working as a freelance garment master and costume designer with her own studio in Berlin Friedrichshain.

She works for national and international film productions and series, for the State Opera, the German Opera and the Theater des Westens in Berlin. She has worked with the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and various international theaters and opera houses.

She has a long and close collaboration with Bernd Skodzig, Lisy Christel and Pierre-Yves Gayraud. Since 2009 she has worked continuously with the dance company Sasha Waltz & Guests.

As a lecturer in the field of costume design she has already worked at the UdK Berlin and for “Seneca Intensiv – Educational Programs for Artistic Movement”.