Lumineo is a therapeutic sleep device designed to help individuals suffering from PTSD-induced nightmares. Developed by Rora Pan for her thesis, Dreamscapes of Healing: Exploring Therapeutic Avenues for Nightmares, Lumineo combines advanced sensory, auditory, and visual technologies with light cues and guided deep breathing exercises to create a holistic sleep aid system. This multifaceted approach promotes restful sleep and alleviates the severity of nightmares, guiding users toward peaceful nights and rejuvenating mornings.

Spiced Stories is a subscription-based kit that offers a unique twist on the classic dinner-and-a-movie experience by seamlessly blending the richness of South Indian movies with delectable meal recipes crafted by the South Indian community in the United States. Designed as part of Heba Jaleel's thesis, We Too Belong Here: Uniting and Strengthening South Indians through Community Collaboration, the project targets young adults aged 18 to 34, including both working individuals and international students in New York, catering to a market hungry for authenticity and connection.

While climate change is a universal and one of the most concerning challenges of our generation, climate action is driving significant green investments and transformations in our era. But is climate change affecting everyone the same way? What perspectives are missing while deploying these climate solutions and initiatives?

Growing up surrounded by nature, Cyntia Abarca became a sustainability enthusiast from a young age. However, she was unaware of the potential links between achieving gender equality, addressing the climate agenda, and building a sustainable future. These missing links and questions led her to explore the connections between women and climate. Her thesis, Changing Climate: Elevating Women and Youth as Agents of Action, presents five design interventions to address climate issues from a gender perspective, aiming to catalyze action while achieving gender equality from different fronts.

Yukti Arora's thesis, Democratizing Bharatnatyam: Investigating the Interplay Between Dance and AI, explores how Artificial Intelligence can bridge the gap in learning Bharatnatyam, a 2500-year-old Indian classical dance form, for today's dancers. Despite over twenty years of training under a renowned dancer since age four, Yukti felt a significant learning gap. Her survey of over 300 Bharatnatyam dancers, ages 18-45, spanning two countries, revealed that 97% shared similar learning gaps, with 92% discontinuing regular practice as they grew older due to various life commitments.

Driven by her background as a designer and inspired by AI's prowess in recognizing patterns, Yukti embarked on a journey to democratize Bharatnatyam. Collaborating with Bharatnatyam dancers and AI experts, she developed a suite of four AI-powered interventions—products, services, experiences, and platforms—to address this challenge and make Bharatnatyam more accessible to all.

Jiayuan (Wren) Wang's thesis, The Me Within: Navigating Layers of Self, explores the duality of existence that spans physical and digital realms. Inspired by the convergence of visible, tangible elements and invisible, private aspects of our identities, her research delves into the challenges and opportunities of expressing and understanding these complex layers. Wren’s thesis proposes innovative ways to bridge the gap between internal experiences and external perceptions, enabling a fuller expression of identity that encompasses both seen and unseen elements. This investigation challenges traditional notions of identity and raises crucial questions about the nature of self in modern society.

Heba Jaleel’s thesis, We Too Belong Here: Uniting and Strengthening South Indians through Community Collaboration, tackles the issue of South Indian culture being overlooked and misrepresented within contemporary American society. In an increasingly diverse American landscape, the establishment and nurturing of a cohesive South Indian community holds immense significance. This thesis asserts the importance of South Indian representation in the United States and advocates for the creation of platforms and initiatives aimed at fostering community building and cultural preservation.

Brydon Yao's thesis, Horsing Around: Reconnecting Emerging Adults with Rough and Tumble Play, situates itself in the tension between growing up and acceptable forms of play. Mainstays of physical play during childhood, such as roughhousing, are great for stress mediation and resilience development. Yet, it is strongly discouraged as we grow up and face more stresses and adversities. The project interrogates the notion of juvenile physical play through a series of designs that set out to re-engage emerging adults with rough-and-tumble play. 

Harsha Pillai ’25 has experienced the feeling of digital overwhelm firsthand. Inspired by her own experience, she created #Unplugged, a text-to-fax printer designed to sit inconspicuously on your bookshelf, allowing you to stay unplugged while still receiving words of encouragement from a chosen support system.

Lipi is a speculative Devanagari keyboard that reimagines the typing experience beyond QWERTY. The project, which addresses the challenges of typing in Hindi, was created by Charvi Shrimali for her thesis, How India Looks: Localizing Design Tools for a Billion People. 

At Wanted Design in New York City, the Class of 2023 debuted their semester-long group project, RE-ACTORS. Products of Design students present annually at the NYCxDESIGN Festival, and this year was unique since Wanted Design took place at the ICFF at the Jacob Javits Center!

“With consistent long-duration spaceflight becoming more probable in humanity’s future,” offers first-year student Corey McClelland, “the opportunities for innovation in microgravity gastronomy are seemingly limitless.

First-year Student Jaemin Cho’s AromaClock and Aroma 4D Platform reimagines the use of scent as a triggering device for behaviors that users want to reinforce.

Class of 2023 student Cathy Tung has created Mousk—a digital product, platform, and brand that addresses the facial expression and nuance forced by the pandemic.

Since 2014, MFA Products of Design has been thrilled to have an incredible partnership with the Museum of Modern Art. Each year, the students are challenged to design products for possible inclusion in MoMA’s Wholesale Catalog, and every year, products make it through all the way to the catalog and store shelves! We’ve done our best to document some of the highlights over the years, but here’s a roundup of some of the special moments. We are unbelievably grateful to MoMA for this relationship, and we can’t wait to see what the students will come up with next!

Hot on the heals of the recently-released Roller Coasters, the latest product to come out of MFA Products of Design’s ongoing partnership with MoMA are Class of 2019 Eugenia Ramos Alonso’s “Fenestra” Bookends. Check them out on the MoMA Store website!

Frubo is a fruit bowl with a modern aesthetic and a hidden agenda. Masquerading as a simple piece of home decor to store fruits and vegetables, Frubo creates a space for the user to store fruits that they want to consume immediately on the upper platter, and fruits that they would save for another day in the bottom portion of the container. Frubo is designed to live everywhere except the kitchen, with the intent of treating fruits the same way that we treat flowers: as pieces of beauty to be enjoyed at the height of their bloom.

It’s that time of year again! We’re thrilled to bring you our second annual MFA Products of Design Holiday Gift Guide, featuring dynamic and delightful objects and interventions by MFA PoD alumni, faculty, lecturers, and guests. This year, in these highly virtual times, we’re thinking more expansively about what a “gift” might mean. Click below to check out products, events, courses, and experiences designed by our PoD community at large.

One of the most anticipated products to come out of PoD’s partnership with MoMA is the set of Roller Coasters—ingenious drink coasters designed by Class of 2020 alum Hui Zheng. Check it out on the MoMA Store website!

CARA is a menstrual product and waste carrier designed for use in multi-day trips outdoors. Designed by recent grad Alexia Cohen as part of her thesis, DARE + DEFY: A Woman’s Place in the Great Outdoors, CARA—from the word carapace, meaning the shell of a turtle—features an expandable waste collection container at the center, with two separate dry enclosures at the top and bottom to keep unused menstrual products, toilet paper, and/or wipes clean and ready to use.