Uli Hanisch, born 1967 in Nuremberg, studied visual communication in Düsseldorf and initially worked as a freelance graphic designer in the advertising business. In 1987, he came into contact with the movie business when he worked as a second unit manager for Christoph Schlingensief's film "Mutters Maske". With "100 Jahre Adolf Hitler – Die letzte Stunde im Führerbunker" ("100 Years of Adolph Hitler") directed by Christoph Schlingensief, Hanisch then made his debut as a production designer. During his career, Hanisch was in charge of production design for films as diverse as "Praxis Dr. Hasenbein" and "Das Experiment" ("The Experiment").

But all of the sets designed by Hanisch share an extraordinary sense for atmospheric detail and a decor that consciously shifts between realism and stylisation. Besides "enfant terrible" Christoph Schlingensief, Hanisch also worked repeatedly with some of the best directors of recent German cinema: He was in charge of the production design for Tom Tykwer's "Winterschläfer" ("Wintersleepers"), "Der Krieger und die Kaiserin" ("The Princess And The Warrior") and "Heaven". In 2007, Hanisch won the Bavarian film award and the German film award for his production design of Tykwer's box office hit "Das Parfum" ("Perfume - The Story of a Murderer").