Safia Qureshi is an award-winning Architect, innovation designer and educator. Born in London, UK, she launched Studio [D] Tale in 2015 to build projects with high social and environmental impact. She then incubated and launched CupClub™ - returnable packaging service for drinks in 2016. In 2016 she was acclaimed by Core77 Magazine to have developed a 'creative business with a social edge.'
Safia’s work is recognised for its innovative use of design, digital exploration, and spatial interventions that challenge conventional notions of cities and the built environment. Her work is immediately recognisable, encompassing product innovation, brand identity, system and service design, digital products and architecture.
She has earned a variety of awards including top prize winner for CupClub™ from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and IDEO and appeared in a number of media and publications, including BBC, Sky, Design Week, Core77, Dezeen, Design Indaba and The Drum. She has been a guest critic at the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, Royal College of Art and London Metropolitan University. She is currently on the network of professional mentors for the RIBA.
Projects
- "It makes you a bad designer if you make something that can't be recycled" - Safia QureshiPublished by: Dezen Date: 13 April 2018 Author: Leanna Garfield and Sarah Jacobs Architect Safia Qureshi wanted to change the world but ended up designing private houses for rich people. So she invented Cupclub, a circular-economy service that could eliminate single-use coffee cups. As it launches in London, she spoke to Dezeen about the project. "Most packaging you see isn’t really designed," said Qureshi, founder and CEO of Cupclub. "It’s just there. No-one’s really thinking about end-of-lif
Projects credited in
- Leaders with social heart: 100 creative changemakersCelebrating social responsibility is at the heart of what we do, so we've partnered with Squarespace – whose mission is to inspire people with creative ideas to succeed – to shine a light on 100 influential luminaries from art, technology, charity, design, business and more that are working tirelessly to make our world a better place. To highlight these organisations, we asked 10 creative changemakers to each nominate 10 people behind inspiring brands, products and movements with amazing social
- CupClub is a poster child for sustainable, circular designIt is a cup as service, rather than cup as product. Marcus Fairs writes a great intro to an interview: Architect Safia Qureshi wanted to change the world but ended up designing private houses for rich people. So she invented Cupclub, a circular-economy service that could eliminate single-use coffee cups. It is actually a very clever idea: a polypropylene cup and with a polyethylene lid and an RFID chip in the bottom so that it can be tracked. The designer tells Fairs in Dezeen: You just drink an2
- Returnable Packaging Service CupClub Receives Investment from....Published by: Henley Business Angels Date: 6th August, 2018 Author: Alex Returnable Packaging Service CupClub Receives Investment from Henley Business Angels, R/GA Ventures, Credit Suisse Director and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation CupClub, a returnable packaging service for drinks centred on the reduction of single use plastics, has received investment from a Henley Business Angels member, raising a total of £200k from their seed round. CupClub’s packaging as a service is designed to hold both
Work history
Founder & CEOCupClub
London, United KingdomFull Time
CupClub™ — a returnable packaging service designed to hold both hot and cold drinks. CupClub offers a tailored end-to-end service helping to reduce single-use plastic packaging by up to 47%. Not only does CupClub™ make it easy to do the right thing, but the product itself is a step-up from disposable cups - CupClub™'s service uses only half the CO2e of disposables and ceramics (including PE lined, styrofoam and compostable PLA cups).
Skills
- Design