Sima is an industrial designer, artist, and researcher, with a passion for jewelry and wearable objects. Her approach blends traditional fine jewelry craftsmanship with modern technology and digital fabrication techniques. She uses jewelry as a medium to reflect on and explore human challenges in a creative and thought-provoking way. She holds an MFA in Design from the University of California, Davis, and a BFA in Industrial Design, Tehran.

Education

Master of Fine Arts, Design / 2019 – 2021 University of California, Davis, United States
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Industrial Design / 2005 – 2010, Tehran, Iran

Academic Experiences

Lecturer | Department of Art, University of Maryland, College Park, MD | Aug 2023- Present
Lecturer | Department of Design, University of California, Davis, CA | Jan 2022- Jun 2023
Teaching Assistant | Department of Design, University of California, Davis, CA | Sep 2020 – Jun 2022
Digital Fabrication Lab Trainer | Department of Design, University of California, Davis, CA | Sep 2021- December 2021
Makerspace Teaching Assistant | Department of Design, University of California, Davis, CA | Sep 2021- Jun 2022

Awards and Honors

Served as a jury member for the Savageau Award, evaluating the best Art and Design theses at UC Davis | 2022, 2023
Aesthetic Award of ISWC Design Exhibition | 2021
UC Davis dean’s graduate fellowship, UC Davis, USA | 2021
Provost’s First Year Graduate Fellowship, UC Davis, USA | 2019
3rd Prize Winner, COW Design Festival, Dnipro, Ukraine | 2019
1st Prize Winner, National Jewelry Design Week, Tehran, Iran | 2018
2nd Prize Winner, COW Design Festival, Dnipro, Ukraine | 2017
3rd Prize Winner, Roshd National Photo Festival, Tehran, Iran | 2015
Iranian National Universities Art Entrance Competition, Ranked 23rd among 60,000+ participants | 2004

Exhibition

Speculative Tools for a Warming Planet:
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, Spain | 2022
Ars Electronica Festival, Austria | 2022
Dutch Design Week, Netherlands | 2022
“What If …”, Group exhibition, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Davis, California | 2021
National Jewelry Design, Tehran University gallery of art, Tehran, Iran | 2018
COW Design Festival Exhibition, Dnipro, Ukraine | 2017 & 2019
Painting Exhibition, Baneh, Iran | 2000

Publication

“CJ-2050: Body Cooling Wearable Technology” at International Symposium on Wearable Computers | 2021
“BioSparks: Jewelry as Electrochemical Sweat Biosensors with Modular, Repurposing and Interchangeable Approaches” at International Symposium on Wearable Computers | 2023