Brade studied ceramic arts, architecture and graphic design at the Hochschule für Formgestaltung, Halle-Burg Giebichenstein. After his studies he started his career as freelancer in various graphic design fields in Halle. He designs posters and books, but specializes in set design for theatre and opera performances in Berlin, Hannover, Budapest, Tübingen, Kassel, Nuremberg, Basel, Leipzig, Hamburg, Paris, Barcelona, Tokyo, Oslo and Copenhagen. He is a professor of graphic design at the College of Arts and Design Burg Giebichenstein in Halle. He has participated in exhibitions all over the world and was the subject of a retrospective in Halle in 2003 and Berlin in 2004. He won the National Award of the DDR (1983), the Halle Handel Prize (1990) and the Kunstpreis Sachsen-Anhalt (2003). His works feature in several German and international collections.