Mariam Ibrahim

Uncover the secrets of your metabolism with a muffin

Over half of the global population suffers from preventable metabolic chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, resulting in significant healthcare costs, such as £10 billion in the United Kingdom. By 2030, an estimated 12.6 million individuals in the UK are at risk of developing T2DM—7 out of 10 of which are unaware of their risk. Without intervention, this increasing population is at risk of developing a serious life-long condition. 

Morning Meta-Muffin initiative offers a path to personalized nutrition through non-invasive metabolic at-home screening. The kit includes a muffin, breathalyzer, and accompanying app. By applying the principles of Psychological Ownership Theory, which posits an individual's sense of ownership over a target, whether material or immaterial, the starter kit aims to promote positive health outcomes among individuals at risk of T2DM. The goal is to empower individuals to gain insights into their body’s metabolic processes and make informed food choices based on their own unique nutritional fingerprint. 

How it works

A screening test is sent to target users through the NHS – as they have direct access to family history data. To activate the kit, they would have to connect to the app. The app will then guide them through a fasting breath measurement and a postprandial measurement in order to give the users their current energy usage and ketone level. If a user is found to have a high ketone score, they are then referred to get an HbA1C test, the only definitive test for T2DM. 

Engaging a community designing-out food waste

Blhana is a collaborative project with local Egyptian artisans and food bank that aims to provide a low-tech modular solution to tackling the food waste problem in Egypt by drawing on centuries long traditional local practices. 'Blhana' translates to “with felicity and healing” and is the common way Egyptians wish you well when you're just about to dig into your meal, in other words 'bon appétit'.

Egyptians were always involved in offering food first to their gods and then to their guests and family. Elaborate dinners and entertainment have always been a central part of Egyptian hospitality practices. However, due to those practices, It climbs to the top of the highest contributing countries to food waste percentages with 92 kilograms total annual amount of global food waste per person.

Multiple countries have found a solution for this by implementing community fridges in their neighborhood. However, in Egypt, they are far too costly and impractical, considering the local climate challenges. 

Presented with this problem, we started thinking about how might we create a low-tech system that both stores food and heats it in aims to share food that we don't need with those who do.

Blhana's modular system consists of a mashrabiya-inspired shading system to combat harsh sun exposure, terracotta pots with firm lids to store the food, and a low-tech stove to provide a warm meal.

The unprecedented explosion of video calling in response to the pandemic has launched an unofficial social experiment in the virtual workplace. Zoom fatigue has become a common challenge for work-from-home employees and employers alike. Employees experience physical and mental exhaustion due to prolonged virtual meetings, difficulty maintaining engagement, and the blurring of work-life boundaries. Employers face concerns regarding employee well-being, decreased productivity, and reduced collaboration. Panopti aims to address this problem by providing a desk companion to maintain employees productivity on work-calls by providing real-time feedback and support, ultimately enhancing the overall work-from-home experience in the eyes of the employer.

An interactive object to simulate the ability to glimpse into your life in the city of green possibilities

SG 2050 is an exploratory public engagement project examining the Singapore government’s green plan to create a whole-of-nation movement to advance Singapore’s national agenda on sustainable development. The device simulates the experience of users being able to glimpse into their “future lives” – to observe possible realities through the country's eco-vision. The stories shared are built on the current 2030 green plan and the predicted trajectory of the 2050 plan. Despite the hypothetical nature of information being passed through time, the project serves to raise questions and provoke thoughts about the nature of our reality and our lives, as well as being a useful tool to communicate the planned national agenda- that aims to conjure amore sustainable country.

A design studio for everyday products of the future

Studio for the End of the World is a speculative design project to that utilizes both text-based & image-based AI in helping solve some of the worlds most challenging problems. Using keywords from current trends and news articles we asked text-based AI to create and name products that would respond to them 50 years in the future, then took these businesses to image-generating AI to show us what they would look like in an advertising or editorial setting. Our final display showcases the products as brands to help us see what household names of the future could be.