Born in Stuttgart, he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in his home city and stage design under Prof. Jürgen Rose. After assistant positions at the Münchner Kammerspiele, the Nationaltheater Mannheim and the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, he worked at the Theater Freiburg and the Städtische Bühnen Münster, where he was head of set design. He later worked at the Tiroler Landestheater, where he was head of set design in the main theater from 1996 to 2023. Helfried Lauckner has also designed sets and costumes for various theaters, for example in Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Berlin, Kassel, Ingolstadt, Lucerne, Passau, Ulm, Göttingen, Kiel and Graz. He has worked closely with Enrique Gasa Valga for many years: Helfried Lauckner has been designing the sets for Gasa Valga's dance pieces and productions for over twelve years.