Oktavia Herbst grew up in the Ruhr region and pursued her passion for theatre from an early age.
She studied costume design at Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom, graduating with honours. During this time, she gained practical experience at various theatres, including the Royal Opera House in London. After graduating, she worked as a costume design assistant at the Frankfurt Opera, the Heidelberg Theatre and Orchestra, and the Mannheim National Theatre. Since then, she has been continuously creating her own costume designs for productions in musical theatre, drama and concerts. She has worked with directors Ayşe Güvendiren, Maren Schäfer, Andrea Schwalbach and Theresa Thomasberger, among others. For her costume work on Rebekka Kricheldorf's 'Die Guten' (directed by Theresa Thomasberger, Theater und Orchester Heidelberg), she was nominated as best young artist in the field of costume design in the 2023 critics' poll conducted by the magazine Theater heute. In addition to her artistic work, she founded the sustainable label ‘The Zero Waste Maker’, which she passed on in 2021.
