Innovation Design Engineering (MA/MSc)
Neloufar Taheri
Neloufar is a multidisciplinary designer with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Strategic Design & Management from Parsons the New School of Design in New York and dual master's in Innovation Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London.
She is the co-founder of a material innovation start-up called SaltyCo, which developed the world’s first freshwater free textiles.
Her body of work explores areas such as social innovation, bio-design, speculative design, and design technology through multitudes of scale.
With an abstract approach to art & design, Neloufar aims to spark questions, share stories, challenge perspectives, and develop alternative systems and solutions to meaningful problems.
Instagram: @nellytaheri
SaltyCo Awards
Runner-Up ‘Design for Social Impact’ 2020, Core77
4th Place Community Award 2020, Green Concept Award
Creative and Consumer Heats Winner and Finalist 2020, Venture Catalyst Challenge (Ongoing)
Semi-finalist 2020, London Mayor Awards (Ongoing)
SaltyCo Exhibitions
Architect at Work (Material Driven), Bilbao, 2020
Green Product Award Exhibition, IHM Munich, 2020 (Cancelled)
SaltyCo WIP Showcase, The Royal College of Art, 2020
SaltyCo WIP Showcase, Imperial College London, 2020
Design Museum Moving to Mars Exhibition London, UK , 2020
Neloufar is currently working on the next steps of Project Shir with a milk bank in Harpenden, UK as well as working alongside co-founding members of SaltyCo on the business launch and pilot.
product specs
Prototyping Process
The benefits of human milk become especially critical in the context of refugee camps where the risk of infection is higher. In emergencies, diarrhea, and respiratory tract infections, both associated with malnutrition, are the most common causes of death.
Medium:
“freeze-dried human-milk”
Re-lactation Aid
The re-lactation aid is essentially a very small tube attached at the breast, allowing the baby to still suckle at the breast while consuming the freeze-dried human milk. This process in turn will stimulate the mother‘s own breast milk, allowing the infant to gradually move from the freeze-dried human milk to the mother‘s own breast milk, as her flow continues to increase.
User Pattern:
Approximately 90% of mothers regain their own breast milk within 2-4 weeks. The goal is to gradually move Shir users to natural breastfeeding and the use of complementary Shir pouches when necessary. Shir is designed for infants under 6 months who would typically require 8-12 pouches a day depending on their feeding habits and weight. Mothers will pick up pouches weekly and track feeding patterns with on-site health-care professionals to ensure the infants are receiving the necessary nutrients and slowly moving towards complete breastfeeding.
UserJourney
The Shir user journey aims to simplify accessibility for mothers, therefore each touchpoint is made into a frugal, delightful, and intuitive experience.
