Prof. Dr. Lucy Norris
Lucy Norris is a social anthropologist interested in how materials and technologies are culturally conceived, embedded in human economies and shape local ecologies. She has worked on textiles, recycling and global waste economies, and role of design in developing strategies for social and environmental justice. She writes, curates and collaborates with visual artists to communicate with wider audiences.
Lucy was a Guest Professor of Design Research and Material Culture at weißensee school of art and design. She was Mercator Fellow at the Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main; Guest Professor of Sustainable Fashion and New Materials at ESMOD, Berlin; and Senior Researcher in the ‘Waste of the World’ project at University College London, where she taught and obtained her PhD.
During the summer term 2024 Lucy substituted the professorship of Design and History of Knowledge at the Department of Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Lucy was appointed Professor of Material Culture Studies in the Theory and History department at Weißensee school of art & design on 1.10.25.
Monographs & Books
Norris, L. 2010. Recycling Indian Clothing. Global Contexts of Reuse and Value. Indiana University Press.
https://doi.org/10.2979/5526.0
Articles in Edited Volumes
Norris, L. 2023. »Fashion and Global Sustainability.« In The Cambridge Global History of Fashion: From the Nineteenth Century to the Present, edited by Breward, C., Lemire, B., Riello, G. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1455-1488.
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108862349.024
Norris, L. 2022. »How do materials matter?« In Values and Revaluations: The Transformation and Genesis of 'Values in Things' from Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Hans Peter Hahn, Anja Klöckner, Dirk Wicke. Oxbow Books, 209-226.
https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.3177143.16
Articles
Christopher Breward, BuYun Chen, Beverly Lemire, Lucy Norris, Giorgio Riello. 2023. »Vers une histoire globale de la mode.« Perspective, 2: 99-122.
https://doi.org/10.4000/perspective.30016
Others
Köpke, R., Koppernock, M., Norris, L., Bonn, A. 2025. What if…? A Transdisciplinary Discourse on the Future of Healthy, Green Cities. Documentation of the project and exhibition, 2024. Berlin State Commissioner for Conservation and Landscape Planning, Berlin.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13347282
Exhibitions
Charlett Wenig, Lucy Norris (Curation, Design and Research) Swamp Things! The Liveliness of Peatland Plants. Exhibitions, Workshops and Panel. Exhibition. A collaboration of BHROX bauhaus reuse with the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, the Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik und Bioökonomie, and weißensee kunsthochschule berlin, as part of the ＿matter Festival 2025. With kind support from the Petri family, Moorhofer Grünlandhof in Kremmen. 8 July 2025 - 20 July 2025.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/16081/swamp-things-the-liveliness-of-peatland-plants
Highlighted by DIE BIOPIONIERE, Podcast biooekonomie.de.
Events & Workshops
Norris, L., Wiesener, H., Razghandi, K. Activating Circular Networks. Event Series Critically Explores Material Sustainability Concepts. Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Since 1 June 2023.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/10973/activating-circular-networks
Teaching & Courses
Razghandi, K., Mareis, C., Stock, R., Auger, J., Lockwood, J., Wenig, C., Norris, L., Stark, S., Weber, R., Bühn, S., Clark, J., le Calvé. M. »Frictioned Functionality: Un/Designing Un/Sustainable Matter«. »Dark Fluidity. An immersive exploration of liquid ontologies in practice along the multispecies material ecologies of the Schwärze river«. MoA's First Interdisciplinary Autumn School., Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 17 October 2022 - 22 October 2022.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/8495/frictioned-functionality-un-designing-un-sustainable-matter
Podcasts & Videos
Päßler, O. (moderation), Quante, R. (image). Charlett Wenig – Die Naturstoffdesignerin. About the Exhibition »Swamp Things«, part of the ＿matter Festival 2025. Podcast. 26 minutes, 15 July 2025.
https://biooekonomie.de/service/mediathek/biopioniere-der-podcast/charlett-wenig-die-naturstoffdesignerin