Industrial design graduate is turning big ideas into real-world impact
Malek Attar (in front of the Design South gallery) is the Outstanding Graduate for the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts this fall, graduating with a Master of Industrial Design. Photo by Jasmine Lee
Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of profiles of notable fall 2025 graduates.
From working with Mayo Clinic to converting agricultural waste into biodegradable materials, Malek Attar wants to use design to create a more sustainable future and to improve the quality of life for others.
Attar, the Outstanding Graduate for the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, graduates this fall from The Design School with a Master of Industrial Design. He has been at ASU since 2021, completing his undergraduate degree in industrial design before continuing directly into the master’s program.
“Everything that ASU has exposed me to in this master’s program has been life-changing and life-altering,” he said. “There’s nothing here in this community that you might be looking for that you cannot find.”
Attar said his time at ASU gave him the chance to explore all the possibilities of design, pairing his passion for sustainability with innovative concepts and brainstorming what might become the next big idea. He credits the school with giving him opportunities to apply his concepts in real-world settings and, with special thanks to program head Luis Angarita, pushing him toward entrepreneurship.
One of these ideas, converting agricultural waste into biodegradable materials, became the foundation of AURA Bioplastics, the startup Attar founded while still a student. Through ASU’s Venture Devils, he participated in incubator sessions, receiving feedback from industry professionals that he plans to apply when pitching his company at the next Venture Devils Demo Day.
Driven by a passion for life-centered design, Attar further expanded his sustainability work through his role with the Circular Living Lab. There, he collaborated with major brands, including Goodwill, Walmart and PetSmart, to design products made entirely from recycled materials, helping demonstrate how circular-economy principlesTo design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in circulation for as long as possible, and regenerate natural systems. can be embedded into the product design process. The Circular Living Lab quickly became one of Attar’s favorite experiences because of its hands-on, immersive nature.
“That type of exposure, being in meetings with some really high-level execs from those companies and consultants that work with them, the exposure there was fantastic,” he said. “I got to take part in all kinds of logistics such as manufacturing, being on the factory floor, dealing with suppliers and seeing tooling equipment. I think that experience was just unreal, and I really, really enjoyed it. It also aligned with my goal of sustainable materials and being in the field of creating products.”
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Malek Attar with lighting he designed for indigenous communities titled "Noor" (left) and lighting designed to help create better sleep titled "Drift" (right).
Photo by Jasmine Lee
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Biodegradable air-filter prototypes from Attar’s AURA Bioplastics startup, created using reclaimed date palm fibers to support cleaner, more sustainable communities.
Render courtesy of Malek Attar
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Malek Attar inside the Design South gallery looking at projects from the Industrial Design program.
Photo by Jasmine Lee
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Recycled PET bowl designs developed through the Circular Living Lab, focusing on durability, sustainability and modern aesthetics for everyday pet care.
Render courtesy of Malek Attar
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Malek Attar in The Design School's shop examining a 3D model he created.
Photo by Jasmine Lee
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Sustainable shin-guard prototypes from Attar’s Circular Living Labs project, showcasing material tests and curvature trials for athlete-centered protection.
Render and photos courtesy of Malek Attar
Attar’s desire to design a more sustainable future also extends to improving the quality of life. In partnership with Mayo Clinic, Attar led a team of student designers to create a med-tech device with the goal of helping those with chronic respiratory illnesses better manage their symptoms.
Beyond the studio, Attar devoted his time to supporting his fellow international students through the Global Career Network group, where he served as president.
In just one semester, he helped forge new partnerships with leading companies such as NVIDIA, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Perplexity. During that same time period, membership in the network grew from 800 to 2,000 students. He also helped put on a “speed recruitment” event with Ethical Spectacle, where each student had five minutes to meet with an industry representative. By the end of the day, 25 student members had received either part-time, full-time or contract offers.
“It was awesome because of the fact that we got to genuinely offer some valuable resources, experiences and opportunities to our students,” he said. “We grew to over 2,000 in one semester, and that was for me one of the biggest achievements of my life. That put us on the list of being the fastest-growing student organization in the history of this university, and that's an absolute honor to be spearheading that initiative.”
As Attar looks ahead, he hopes to continue growing AURA Bioplastics through further research while also laying the groundwork for a design consulting firm of his own. For him, the possibilities within the field remain his greatest motivation.
“This is the reason I got into industrial design in the first place — because it is a super diverse major that is interdisciplinary,” he said. “One week you could be working on a project with NASA, designing moon rovers. The next week you could be working with the Indigenous communities of Arizona to design a lighting solution that fits within their needs.”
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