Thomas Winkler

Thomas Winkler (born 25 October 1963) is a Danish multi-displicine artist.

With a background in clothing design, he has designed theatre costumes and robes for actors, drag artists and pop stars. He is also active as a writer, painter, sculptor and designer and as the ‘house artist‘ and designer for Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens. He is celebrated for his extravagant use of colours and patterns and his playful and fabulative motifs.

Early life and education Winkler was born in Frederiksberg, a municipality in the midst of Copenhagen. There, he attended Lindevangen School. He has talked about how as a child he would visit the Tivoli Gardens with his parents; tellingly, what most impressed him were "the flowers, laughing children and reed cheeks".

He graduated as a dance and gymnastics teacher at the private Institut Bjarnov in Frederiksberg in 1982, but went on to take courses in subjects like composition and illustration at Kolding's School of Arts and Crafts (Kolding Kunsthåndværkerskole) and at Copenhagen's School of Decorative Art (Skolen for Brugskunst), from which he graduated as a clothing designer in 1986.

Career As a fashion and costume designer From the outset, Winkler's designs stood out as sumptuous, colourful and elegantly fabulative, causing Berlingske Tidende to hail him as "an excellent Danish representative of the latest trend in fashion, which is a reaction against the minimalist style and ascetic lifestyle of recent years".

Winkler has spoken about fashion as a form of artistic expression, yet in spite of his extravagant style, he once noted that "I'd prefer to see one of my dresses on a bus 14 to Vanløse than a 100 times in the Royal theatre". On the same occasion he suggested that"Clothes should not be made according to a pattern, but according to a recipe, such as: 7 parts aesthetics, 1 part eroticism, 1 part mystery, 1 part comedy. May be decorated with bit of greenery." While clearly drawing inspiration from many epochs, styles and artists, Winkler has spoken of Bjørn Wiinblad, who also made creations for the Tivoli Gardens, as a role model.

In 1999, he created the costumes for Copenhagen's Folketeatret's Fortællingen om enhver, and in 2002, he created the costumes for Carl Nielsen's Masquerade at Den Jyske Opera in Aarhus.

He continues to create posters for Riddersalen.

1996: Jorden rundt på gulvet : en musikalsk farce. Co-written with Signe Birkbøll, Katrine Jensenius, Peter Bichsel 1998: Spøgelseslege 2004: Langt ude i skoven 2008: Tulipanmysteriet. Co-written with Signe Birkbøll Winkler has also created commercials and music videos. He also appears on the song "Love" off the 2010 album 7 Shortcuts to Change: Music with Subconscious Learning by jazz singer Thulla.