Lauren Thu is a designer interested in critically engaged design, more-than-human philosophies, hopeful futures, scruffy dogs, and the ocean at night.
Education
Simon Fraser University [2023 – 2025]
Master of Arts, School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Emily Carr University of Art and Design [2017 – 2021]
Bachelor of Design, Major: Industrial Design, Minor: Curatorial Practice
Capilano University [2009]
Certificate in Motion Picture Production
Employment
Research Assistant – Ocean Futures [2024 – present]
Simon Fraser University, Imaginative Methods Lab
Research Assistant – Turner Boxes [2024 – present]
Simon Fraser University, Everyday Design Studio
Teaching Assistant [2024]
Simon Fraser University
Seminar Leader [2023 – present]
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Associate/Futures Designer [2022 – present]
OneEarth Living
Sustainability Associate [2022 – 2023]
Green Spark Group
Research Assistant – Fables for Imagining [2020 – 2021]
Imaginative Methods Lab
Research Assistant – Human-Centered Orthotics [2019 – 2020]
Emily Carr Health Design Lab, Material Matters Lab, Kintec Footwear
check my linkedin for further employment details
Shows, Residencies, Conferences, Publications
[2022] Experimental Realism Mentee
[2022] On Walking: rhythm, repetition, movement, group show (with The Roving Designers Collective), OCAD Graduate Gallery, Toronto ON
[2021] PIVOT 2021 Virtual Conference – Dismantling and Reassembling
Panelist – Hirudinea lampyris: Using Counterfactual Narratives to Imagine Alternate Futures
[2021] The Grad Show, group show, Emily Carr University, (virtual and physical exhibition), Vancouver BC
[2021] U+Zine 4 “Food” (with Zara Huntley as Studio Peal), Plurality University
[2021] CriticALL!: (Un)professional Everyday Design Criticism, Onomatopee 186, Joannette van der Veer
[2020] ECUAD DESIS Lab x Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship – Satellite Summer Residency
[2020] CriticALL!, group show, Onomatopee Projects, Eindhoven NL
[2019] Interactive Wearables, group show, Diffuser Gallery, Vancouver BC
[2016] Art Waste ~ Strange Magic, group show, Fortune Sound Club, Vancouver BC
Awards
[2023] Simon Fraser University Graduate Fellowship Award
[2021] ECUAD DESIS Radical Sustainability Award
[2021] John C. Kerr Chancellor Emeritus Award for Excellence in Design
[2020] Onomatopee Publishing – CriticALL! design criticism open call – Third Place (published)
[2020] Recipient of the Emily Carr University Design and Digital Media Micro-Grant (Declined)
[2020] Recipient of the BC Arts Council Scholarship
[2020] Simon Chang Award
[2020] Christopher Foundation Scholarship
[2019] Recipient of the Ian Gillespie Design Scholarship
[2018] Recipient of the BC Arts Council Scholarship
[2018] Recipient of the Emily Carr University Achievement Scholarship
[2018] Recipient of the Faculty of Culture and Community’s Micro-Grant
Extracurricular
Program Lead (Volunteer) – False Creek Friends Society
Co-Founder – Studio Peal
Member – The Roving Designers
Founder/President – ECUAD Design Reading Group
Member – Design and Digital Media 2021 Grad Show Committee
Lauren Thu 