Lars Zimmermann

Lars Zimmermann serves as a Visiting Professor in Product Design since 2019, teaching courses including 'Trikka' (Summer Semester 2023) and 'Openness makes the world go round! Hacking Cities vs. Climate Change'. Concurrently, he founded Mifactori - a Berlin-based Studio for Open Circular Design, Creative Education & City Hacking that functions as his primary research and community engagement platform.

Academically trained at Bauhaus University Weimar, Zimmermann operates at the intersection of art, activism, research, and economics. His work critically examines tensions between sustainability utopias and practical implementations through multiple lenses: developing Open Source Hardware frameworks, creating participatory Open Design systems, advancing Circular Design methodologies, and pioneering City Hacking as urban intervention strategy for circular economy transitions.

His supervision of projects like IoT smartWormbin and Plant dyes demonstrates commitment to experiential learning where students prototype tangible sustainability solutions. Mifactori serves as his operational hub for developing open design toolkits, facilitating community workshops, and creating educational resources that empower citizens to reimagine urban spaces through circularity principles and collaborative design processes.