"EVERYTHING WE DESIGN HAS AN IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENTS WE RELY ON. SO, HOW CAN WE DESIGN IN A RESPONSIBLE WAY, THAT TAKES HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL NEEDS INTO ACCOUNT AND PAVE THE WAY TOWARDS ECO-SOCIAL TRANSITIONS?"
Lynn Harles is a Design Researcher, Curator, and Writer working at the intersection of design, architecture, environmental and natural sciences. In her work, she questions, how the needs of human and other-than-human beings as well as different understandings of nature can be considered in the design process.
Since her award-winning Master project, „Design in the Anthropocene,“ in 2016, she has been passionate about collaborating with scientists, environmentalists, and local communities. Her work explores the manifold potentials of design for interdisciplinary and participatory knowledge production, addressing pressing socio-ecological issues such as biodiversity loss and microplastic pollution.
Lynn sees design research as a means to push academic boundaries and rethink our human-centered understandings of nature, science, and innovation. She has participated in several scientific expeditions, from crossing the North Atlantic Gyre, visiting fishing villages in Ecuador, and engaging in manatee conservation in Florida, to studying remote and nature-related ways of being at the Phugtal Monastery in the Himalayas. These experiences help her understand the impact of the Anthropocene era and its local and cultural meanings.
Her research methodologies combine approaches from Visual Anthropology, Multispecies Studies, scientific field trips with approaches from Design Research and Practice, including Speculative and Critical Design, Multispecies Design, Material Design, and Architecture.
Lynn gained professional experience as an interdisciplinary design researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute (CeRRI) and the Natural History Museum in Berlin. She has initiated several publicly funded projects, such as the speculative exhibition Food Fictions (funded by BMBF Wissenschaftsjahr 2020|21), and collaborated on interdisciplinary research projects like Transferwissenschaft, Design for Innovation Rwanda (commissioned by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), Microsoft Earth Lab, and Userlab in the Netzwerk Naturwissen (MfN).
Currently, she holds a fellowship from Bauhaus-University Weimar, where she is finalizing her PhD titled „Interfacing Natural History Museums as Design Research Labs: From extinct species showcases to multispecies engagement.“ In this project, she wants to build a bridge between Natural History Museums as repositories of nature knowledge and Design Research Labs as a novel form of scientific institution.
Thus, she investigates the potential roles of Natural History Museums as central hubs for eco-social transition from a design perspective on the one hand. On the other hand, she explores the concept „Design Research Labs“ in design education, that follow an interdisciplinary, participatory and responsible modes of knowledge-production and over new pathways to tackle complex socio-ecological challenges.
Additionally, Lynn works as a freelance curator and co-curated the Multispecies Symposium with Dr. Claudia Banz at Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin. She is also a Jury Member of the German Design Graduates Award, together with Dr.Andrea Augsten and Stephan Ott, a Board Member of the German Design Research Society (DGTF), and a lecturer at HMKW (Visual Anthropology).
Paper & Conferences
Harles L. (2024) Towards Multispecies Engagement in Responsible Research and Innovation: How can we co-design for and with non-human beings? DGTF Annual Conference. Hazarding Design. Lucerne.
Harles L. (2024). Multispecies Engagement and Speculative Ecologies: Towards multispecies ways of knowing for eco-social speculations. Cumulus Conference. P/References of Design. Budapest.
Harles L. (2024) Between extinct species and collaborative imaginaries of the future: Rethinking Natural History Museums as Design Labs. Cumulus Conference. P/References of Design. Budapest.
Harles, L. & Augsten, A. (2024) Design Research Labs as a framework for Public Sector Innovation. Cumulus Conference. P/References of Design. Budapest.
Harles, L. (2022). Transfer by Design: Die Rollen von Design im Transfer. DUZ Special Issue Transferwissenschaft. S.9.
Harles, L. & Heidingsfelder, M. (2021). From fact to artifact: New Approach to Ethical Responsibility in Discursive and Speculative Design Practices for Public Engagement in Science. Design for Common Good. Swiss Design Network Conference. Basel
Keynotes & Talks
Upcoming Talks:
20.09.2024: Holitopia Festival | Berlin
29.10.2024: Dutch Design Week | Eindhoven
Selected Keynotes:
German Design Graduates Talks
Panel: One Step Beyond – Perspektiven des Planet Centered und Interspecies Design für tiefgreifende Transformation | MAK Frankfurt 31.08.2024
Insights into Multispecies Design
Berlin Design Network Circle „Sustainability and Design“ | Berlin 27.09.2024
Why we need a more than human turn in design?
Multispecies Design Symposium | Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin | 22.03.2024
Transfer und Design.
Annual Conference „4Transfer“ | Dresden 2023
Transfer by Design.
Transferforum 2022 | Berlin 2022
Quantum Weirdness and a world without time:
What can speculative design practices learn from quantum physics?
Primer Conference | Online 2022
Design > Forschung > Wirtschaft.
Panel Discussion with Prof. Dr. Annika Frye, Professorin für Designwissenschaften und -forschung an der Muthesius Kunsthochschule; Dominik Langhammer, Director of Design Global Oral Care Innovation der Procter & Gamble Service GmbH; Prof. Andreas Muxel, Professor für Physical Human-Machine Interfaces am Hybrid Things Lab der Hochschule Augsburg; Stephan Ott, Director Institute for Design Research and Appliance des Rat für Formgebung.
Grantler’s Corner organised by UnDesign Unit, Munich Creative Business Week | Munich 2022
Hungry for Science Symposium.
Berlin Science Week | Berlin 2020
Food Fictions – Speculative Food Design.
Speculative Futures Meetup | Berlin 2020
Zukunft gestalten: Design Fiction als Methode für bidirektionale Wissenschaftskommunikation.
Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation | Essen 2019
Design for Good.
Collaborate to Innovate Konferenz | Berlin 2019
Panel Discussion: Art, Technology & The Environment Silbersalz.
Science & Media Festival | Halle 2019
Teaching
Intersecting Dialogues:
Mapping and Visualization of Multispecies Perspectives in the Anthropocene.
Lecturer at HMKW Berlin | SoSe 2024
Between extinct species and speculative artifacts:
How public engagement on socio-ecological issues can benefit from design research.
Digital Lecture at Lucerne School of Art and Design | 2023
Take a fact and act.
Guest lecture at Universität der Künste Berlin | 2020
Design for Good
Lecture and Seminar at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, 2019
Towards a planetary-centered future through the interdisciplinary field of science and design.
Lecture at Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel| 2019
Writings
Harles, L. (2021). Speculations on the role of design in a biotechnosphere.
Form Design Magazine. Issue March 2021
Harles, L., Heidingsfelder, M., Lösel, J.-F. (2021) Lemgo Digital Toolbox: Partizipationsprozesse in Smart City Projekten. Berlin.
Harles, L., Heidingsfelder, M.; Jütting, M.; Lemke, S. (2019): Design for Innovation Toolbox. Berlin. (GIZ)
Maier, M., Harles, L., Heimisch-Röcker, A., Kaiser S., Schraudner M.,
(2021). Stadt.Land.Chancen. Wünsche und Sorgen von Bürgerinnen und Bürger in Stadt und Land. Acatech Kooperationen. München.
Harles, L. (2019). Rwandan ways of thinking: How to use cultural dynamics for society-based innovations. Slanted Special Issue Rwanda, 102-103.
Interview with Nomad Magazine by Sarah Dorkenwald.
„Lynn Harles – the Design Scientist“. Issue Nr. 10, June 2021
**Further books chapters are planned to be published in 2024/2025
© 2024
Studio Harles
Berlin | Luxembourg