Sebastian Hannak studied stage and costume design at Kunstakademie Stuttgart with Jürgen Rose and Martin Zehetgruber. During this time, he spent time working with David Hockney in Los Angeles and worked as an assistant and collaborator in Darmstadt, Hamburg and Zurich with Klaus-Michael Grüber, John Neumeier and Johann Kresnik, among others.
His work for drama, music and dance theatre has led Sebastian Hannak to the Forum Neues Musiktheater of Staatsoper Stuttgart under Klaus Zehelein, where he developed several world premieres, to the dance cooperation pvc, and to the ballet of Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Further works in Berlin, Oper Dortmund (»Hamlet/Jost«, 2011), Frankfurt, Freiburg, Theater der Stadt Heidelberg (»La Boheme«, 2007), Oper Halle (»Arabische Nacht«, 2009), Staatstheater Karlsruhe (»Momo«, 2012), Nationaltheater Mannheim (»Hoffmanns Erzählungen«, 2010), Prinzregententheater Munich (»Faust«, 2008 / »Fairy Queen«, 2009), Stuttgart, Salzburg and Zurich with directors Christof Nel, Michael v. z. Mühlen, Simon Solberg, Thomas Krupa and Florian Lutz, among others.
Sebastian Hannak's works were nominated for Room of the Year and exhibited several times, including at the Prague Quadrennial 2007 in the German Pavilion. In 2008, Sebastian Hannak designed the front pages of the trade journal Die deutsche Bühne and published an article in the focus issue Opernrecycling. In 2010 he published an article on the space for »Hoffmann's Tales« in the Bühnentechnische Rundschau, and in 2006 on the space for the music theatre »fremd«. He has also been editing his own books since 2007. Sebastian Hannak is married and has two children. He lives and works in Heidelberg. After designing the stage and costumes for the opera »Polifemo" in the 2012/13 season, he will design the stage for »The Journey of G. Mastorna" after Federico Fellini in the Marguerre Hall and Old Hall of the Heidelberg Theatre and Orchestra in 2023/24.