Temporary loss of smell, or anosmia, is the leading neurological symptom and one of the earliest and most commonly reported indicators of COVID-19. It can negatively affect many aspects of daily life—most notably eating. “87% of COVID patients with anosmia said they experienced a reduced enjoyment of food,” remark students Sarah Hackett and Cathy Tung, who teamed up to design Chewful, an app providing ‘tailored dining journeys’ to help improve the experience of eating for those without the ability to smell or taste.

Zol Fairway is an app and digital caddie system designed by first-year student José Achi Martín. A wearable wireless chip offers golfers suggestions on how to play the specific course the user is on, much as how a real-life caddie would. José explains that the Zol app is intended to facilitate the learning process of the sport for beginners but also functions as a correction and tracking tool for more experienced players.

In an 11-week project, Margarita Zulueta, Zekun Yang, and Anne Keating set out to redesign in-home water filtration consumer products, of which Brita is the current market leader. Their solution? VODA—a reusable pitcher-agnostic system that pairs with a geo-specific custom water filtration mixture. VODA focuses on local, open-source accessibility to clean water, and aims to reduce plastic usage in our personal drinking water habits.

Have you ever wished you could taste the delicious dish you just saw featured in a movie? Foodflix, a speculative project created by student Cheryl Zhang, offers just that—to provide customers with outrageous immersive experiences through movie food delivery, a recipe app, and escape room labs. Partnering with Netflix, "Foodflix aims to bring your favorite movies to life."

For The World, a project designed by first-year student Erika Choe, serves as a far-sighted collective that embodies decentralized and democratic practices to actively engage in building a better future. Erika envisions the website as your “go-to guide for exploring and sharing alternate models for a more connected, meaningful and regenerative future.”

Globally, we consume 2.25 billion cups of coffee a day, which equals a shocking 23 million tons of wasted coffee grounds each year. In response, first-year student Nihaarika Arora created Ground2Ground—a set of upcycled straws fabricated from used coffee grounds blended with natural binding agents. The straws are designed to be reused and compostable, “returning to the ground at the end of their lifecycle.”

DUO is a speculative contraceptive technology product for egalitarian couples, aiming to empower both partners and hold them equally accountable. Designed by first-year student Monica Moaz, DUO consists of two pill packs: one for the male and one for the female partner.

“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.

Stooping is a long-time New York tradition: someone discards their no longer needed belongings on the stoop or sidewalk in front of their home, and any passerby can salvage the items for free. During the pandemic, first-year student Kaylan Tran noticed that stooping became an Instagram phenomenon with thousands of users sharing their finds. Inspired by this movement, Kaylan created Trove, an app that aims to turn stooping into a fun, treasure-hunting, community-based experience.

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.

Avocados are highly nutritious but also increasingly controversial. Controversial?! Those of us who love avocado toast might be shocked to learn the truth: From its high food mileage to giving rise to "green gold" cartels, the rising popularity of the fruit has significant environmental and social implications. When first-year student Charvi Shrimali researched these issues further, she became motivated to find local alternatives to high export produce in her native India. Her proposed solution? Closer Home Eats is a speculative startup that proposes popularising and rebranding the Indian variant of avocado known as butter fruit. The project aims to counter the high food mileage and extinction of plant species due to rising monoculture.

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!

Haggl.ing is a network and app that creates an ecosystem for people to facilitate transactions in their neighborhood using negotiations and trade—all without cash. The project imagines a future cashless economy while building social capital and connections within one's own community. Second-year student Siddhant Goyle created Haggl.ing as part of his MFA thesis—an exploration into the grey market (or the informal economy) and building systems for cashless transactions.

Kuddle is a wireless phone charger that encourages couples to spend more meaningful time communicating face-to-face. Designed by second-year student Crystal Ching Yi Lo, the dock only charges when two phones are placed side-by-side. “If only one partner puts their phone down, the device won’t charge,” Crystal explains. “Like a metaphor of a relationship, the phones will only charge if the two are close together on the dock.”

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!

Timescape is a speculative neural hacking kit that aims to deconstruct the notion of linearity in perceived time. It consists of injectable proteins that temporarily alter the brain's neural plasticity, which changes various perceptions of time—including sequence, direction, change, and duration. Second-year student Karan Bansal created Timescape as part of his MFA thesis—an exploration into time poverty, colonialist origins of timekeeping, and ways to augment time that restore choice.

Second-year student Regena Paloma Reyes is currently hard at work on her MFA thesis—an investigation into the factors that promote city-dwellers' resilience during crises. Finding herself in New York City at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Regena was inspired to create two garment projects that blur the lines between protection and fashion: Covered and Anti.

Water Surface is a DIY atmosphere lamp that creates hypnotic ripples of light when touched. First-year designer, Qiting Fang, says the device is intended to “be placed on your table, shelf, or bedside to create a harmonious ambiance and absorbing experience.” Indeed, the lamp simulates the relaxing sensation of watching ripples appear on a placid lake.

Orbt is a set of convenient writing instruments, specifically ballpoint pens, that minimize their environmental impact by avoiding single-use plastic and promoting reusability. Inspired by the geostationary orbits revolving around the earth, Orbt is designed to, quite literally, stay around the user for years. The iconic Reuleaux Triangle shape of the stylus and its magnetic stand’s matching profile nudge the user to place the pen back in its home, preventing misplacement, use after use.