About

Lisa Mandemaker is a speculative designer with a strategic, contextually aware and critical approach to research and design. She considers speculative design as a tool for debate in the public domain. In collaboration with scientists, ethicists and researchers she crafts future narratives through designed prototypes, creating invitations to reflect on possible futures. Making impactful, topical work and creating strong interventions and conversation starters are key elements to her practice. The focus is on the socio-cultural and ethical impact of emerging technologies in the fields of reproduction, health and politics. Through the lens of Reproductive Futures, her projects are a call to action and a pursuit of understanding and shaping the impact of technology on our most fundamental aspects of life.

Known for her contribution to the design of the prototype of an artificial womb, she received a spot on the annual BBC 100 Women List, listing the 100 most inspiring women of the world. 

If there is a new piece of technology arriving, it’s important we don’t blindly accept it - we really need to think about what it does and means.

Collaborating with

Collaborated with

BBC 100 Women
Brave New World
Derailed Research Lab
DesignLab (University of Twente)
Driving Dutch Design
Dutch Design Foundation
ESDiT (NWO Gravitation program)
Foundation We Are
Futurebased
Garage2020
Lawyers as Changemakers
Maxima Medical Center
MUSAE
Next Nature Network
Seoul Design Festival
S+T+ARTS
The Future Laboratory
TOA Festival Berlin
VondelCS
Waag
World Design Embassies

Funded by

Creative Industries Fund NL
(2014, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023)
Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (2018)
Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds (2015)
VSB Fonds (2015)

 

Let’s Work Together