Crafting Futures Lab

Monja Hirscher

I am a designer and researcher with a background in product design. Currently, I work as a Senior Artist and PhD Candidate at the Crafting Futures Lab at the University of Art and Design Linz, supervised by Irene Posch, where I am involved in teaching and research.

In my research, I explore the processes of design—the interplay of material and human perspectives and the mutual influence they exert on their creation. I am interested in how material practice gives rise to relationships, experiences, and forms of learning: how one’s own body, history, and perspective are woven into the design process, and how regenerative forms of design and value creation can emerge.

In my practice, I work with a range of mediums, from replicas of vegetables and sugar as a building material to solar cells made from berries, as well as interacting with natural materials and the weather or AI.

Previously, I worked at mischer’traxler studio in Vienna on numerous conceptual projects, narrative installations, and exhibitions.

My research has been published by DRS, LearnXDesign, IASDR, and Nordes. My work has been shown at the Ars Electronica Festival (A), Salzkammergut 2024 (A), the Vienna Design Week (A), the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (DE) and the Museo di Lasio (FIN).