News-Detail

When Alberto Iberbuden was still at school, he learned how to saw wood, shape metal and build electrical circuits. Not out of obligation, but because he was captivated by the things he could create with his hands. In his home town in northern Argentina, he attended a technical school that combined various disciplines. And while others were thinking about what they wanted to be when they grew up, Alberto knew: He wanted to understand how things are created.

He eventually studied industrial design at the Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Design in Córdoba, Argentina – designing products ranging from chairs to complex machines. Studying in Europe? That seemed unimaginable at first, but a small scholarship opened a door that he bravely walked through. In 2017, Alberto moved to Dessau to start the Master's degree program in Integrated Design. He left the eternal summer weather of the Argentinian north behind him and discovered something surprising in the four distinct seasons in Germany: a new way of thinking. "In a country with a colder climate, I see how people engage in different activities depending on the season," he says. "I really liked that." Dessau wasn’t just his place of study. It became his home.

Today, Alberto is a doctoral student at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences and teaches design theory and design research in the master's programs. In his dissertation, he explores unfamiliar ground: The focus is on mindfulness practices and the question of how designers learn in the first place. Specifically, he asks how meditation – properly embedded in instruction – can strengthen creativity, attention and empathy in design studies.

His approaches are anything but conventional: "It's not just about closing your eyes and concentrating," he makes clear. He has developed experiments in which drawing, walking, observing, listening and creative projects are explored as ways to achieve mindfulness. In real design classrooms, with real students. His central hypothesis: These practices not only benefit learners, but also change the entire learning system.

What drives Alberto can be summarized in a few words: He wants to develop new ways of imparting knowledge based on empathy and collaboration. As a holistic designer, his interests range from philosophy to systemic thinking. "And I always keep coming back to the same question: How do designers think and act? And how can they become better at it?", he explains.

The dissertation is almost finished. The results of his experiments are currently being summarized. In June, Alberto will represent Anhalt University at the Design Research Society Conference in Edinburgh – one of the most important meetings of the design research community worldwide.

From the technical school in Argentina to the design faculty in Córdoba and a doctorate in Dessau: Alberto Iberbuden has never stopped asking how things are created – and how people can grow in the process. In this, mindfulness is not an afterthought.