Tatyana van Walsum was born in England in 1967. She received her degree in costume design at Wimbledon School of Art 1998-91 in London. Later she studied at the Motley Theatre Design Course in 1994-95 in London. Since 1996 she has her own studio in Amsterdam where she lives. Over the years she has been designing for theatre plays, ballet and opera. Her work also includes designs for museum exhibitions and films.

She collaborates often with Krzysztof Pastor, resident choreographer for The Dutch National Ballet on many of his ballets, including set and costume designs for Romeo and Juliet at Scottish Ballet 2008.Set and costume designs for Berlioz Fantastique at The Australian Ballet 2007 for which she won the Green Room Award for best design in dance in 2007 in Australia. Costume design for Tristan and Isolde, Royal Swedish Ballet, 2006. For het Nationaal Ballet she designed Pastor’s Crossing Paths in 2006, Voice in 2004, In Light and Shadow in 2001. In Light and Shadow was revived at the Royal Ballet In Sweden in 2003 and at the Scottisch Ballet for the Edinburgh festival in 2006 and Do not go Gentle in 2000.

Her other design work for dance include Set and Costumes for Hamlet in 2008 at Stuttgart Ballet with chor Kevin O’day. Requiem for a Rose, Pennsylphania Ballet and Since of the Nationaal Ballet in 2007 with choreographer Annabel Lopez. She has worked on many full length modern dance works for Dominique Dumais, resident choreographer at The Mannheim Ballet in Germany, pieces include Frida in 2010, Woolf in 2009  (HNB) Time and other Matter in 2006, Lebenslenien in 2005, Broken Verse in 2004 and Resonance Chopin.
Their first work together was Skin Divers, first created at the Komische Opern in Berlin later revived in Mannheim and to be revived for Toronto Ballet in 2009.

For many years she collaborated with choreographer Martino Müller. Projects include R.A.M for Stuttgart Ballet in 1998, revived for the Gothenburg ballet in 2000 where it was awarded best ballet production of the year. And Le Jour meme for the Lyon Ballet for which she received the Benois de la Dance Award for best scenography in ballet 1996. Their first works together were A woman can take you… and Heidi for het Nederlands Dans Theatre in The Hague, where their collaboration started in 1994-95. Costume designs for Peter Schaufuss include La sylphide at La Scala, Milan in 1998, Hamlet at the Royal Ballet of Denmark 1996 and The Tchaikovsky trilogy for his touring company in Denmark.

Recent work for theatre includes set design and costume for Aars by Peter Verhelst and Grave from Sarah Kane in  2010, directed by Olivier Provily, The Pelikaanby Strindberg in 2006  directed by Olivier Provily for the theatre company Het Zuidelijk Toneel.For the music theatre company Orkater she designed the sets De meisjes van Mussolini in 2010, Cecilia directed by Moniek Kramer. The productions Ik in 2004, nominated by the NRC Handelsblad Theatre play of the year in 2004, Hof van Haile in 2005 and Bloedbandin 2007, written by Geert Lageveen and Leopold de Witte and directed by Gijs de Lange.Set design for A soldier’s Taleby Stravinsky, directed by Porgy Franssen for De Appel Theater in Den Haag.Opera design include Cosi Fan Tutte set and costumes, directed by director Nigel Warrington, Aarhus Opera Festival Denmark, winner of Reumert Pris Award for best opera production of the year.Museum projects include Couture Locale, Theater na Tomaat, Ruigoord, Rijk Gekleed and Adam, man en mode Amsterdams Historisch Museum and Willet Holthuysen museum, curator Annemarie den Dekker.

New projects in 2012 / 2013 include new works by Dominique Dumais Rilke, R.A.W. and The little Prince with Kevin O’Day Ballett Nationaltheater Mannheim, Hamlet revival by Kevin O’Day with The Toronto Ballet and Otello with Kevin O’Day Ballett Nationaltheater Mannheim, Bolero by Krzysztof Pastor with The Dutch National Ballet, Century Rolls by Ashley Page with The Polish National Ballet and Theatre Museum projects; Wie is de Nar? and an exhibition about 125 jaar Carré.