Hi there!

If you've made it here, thank you so much!

I'm Melanie, a designer and futurist with a German-Polish background. Growing up, I was always the one with paint-stained hands and a notebook full of half-finished stories. I was always asking 'but why? I'm someone who questions a lot, and I think that's one of my biggest creative skills: critical thinking. I can literally question everything, because I think we have to understand the world in order to make it a better place. We have to understand what good there already is, and what we can and should still change for the better.

With my projects, I want to inspire exactly that: change and reflection.

After finishing high school in 2020, I started studying Industrial Design at Folkwang University of the Arts. In my very first semester, I got an assignment where I had to give a presentation on Dunne & Raby, and I didn't even know who they were, let alone what they were doing. All of my classmates had to present "normal" industrial designers like Dieter Rams, and there I was, just having started to study, not even really understanding what design was yet, let alone speculative design…

But after I read more into it, I got it, and I was fascinated. How do people come up with such imaginative ideas? I wanted to do exactly that: dream up bold concepts and put them out into the world.

Most of my projects are rooted in the human and non-human body. What does that mean? Simply that we are not the only creatures on this planet, there are animals, plants, machines, and so much more. I want us to reflect on these perspectives, because I believe that shifting our point of view helps us understand ourselves a lot better too. It's also how we learn to do better: to live more sustainably, more happily, and more in sync with nature.

When it comes to futures, I believe there is never just one option. Futures are plural.

That means there is utopia and there is dystopia.

And in my projects, you'll most likely find aspects of both. I think we need both in order to truly reflect on what is happening right now, and what could happen in the futures ahead.

In a way, I'm still that creative kid from the beginning, writing, painting, creating. Just now the canvas is a lot bigger, and the questions are more complex. So if you want to follow this kid's journey along, stay tuned. And if you ever want to get in touch, don't hesitate. I'd love to hear from you.

I can't wait to explore futures together with you in all their colorful, messy, exciting complexity.