Meet Saloni Bedi

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Saloni Bedi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Saloni, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

I keep my creativity alive by making sure I’m constantly feeding it with the right kind of fuel. For me, that means exposing myself to things that inspire rather than drain; whether it’s reading blogs, studying products, or getting inspired by the work and lives of other designers and creatives. Seeing how others approach problems or express ideas always gives me new angles to explore and energy to create.
Equally important is giving myself the opposite – quiet time. Time in nature or even just time alone without distractions lets my mind slow down. That space, and sometimes even boredom, has a way of sparking fresh connections and ideas I wouldn’t have found otherwise. It’s a balance of seeking out energy from the world around me while also making room to let my own thoughts wander.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Saloni Bedi is an industrial designer passionate about developing products which are inclusive, accessible, and make an impact on people’s lives. Currently an industrial designer at Loft Design – a design studio in Providence, Rhode Island, she graduated from MIT’s Integrated Design and Management program, a human-centered design focused program where she worked on projects ranging from conducting research in zero gravity to make space more inclusive, building prosthetic knees for low resource settings, developing pregnancy tests accessible for people with vision impairments, and making measuring body’s hydration levels possible. Saloni has worked in the fields of social innovation, healthcare, sustainable product development, and consumer products. Her work has been recognized by Fast Company, Core77, IDSA, iF awards, James Dyson award, Prototypes for humanity, C-IDEA etc.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

If I look at my journey over the years, three things that shaped my journey are :
1. Authenticity – trusting myself and being okay with doing things my way, even if it doesn’t look like everyone else’s path.
2. Showing up – half the work is just being there, putting in the effort, and following through.
3. Curiosity – asking questions, learning from people around me, and never feeling like I’m “done” growing.

My advice if you’re early in your career:
The biggest one would be to honor your time and energy – notice what fuels you and what drains you. Don’t give away your time lightly, it’s one of your biggest assets that you cannot earn back.
The next would be to respect your work – put care into it, because it’s a reflection of you. We spend a lot of time working so it should be enjoyable, something that you look back and can claim as it being something you spent time on!

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

In the past 12 months, I’ve seen a lot of growth in my industrial design practice, especially through the hands-on work I’ve been doing at Loft Design. One of the projects I’m most proud of is Sora, a system designed to help first responders manage opioid overdoses and trauma-related emergencies more effectively. Working on Sora with the team challenged me to think deeply about real-world needs, user experience, and how design can make a tangible difference in critical situations.

Beyond Sora, I’ve also been involved in developing other products in the area of consumer electronics, music techie and health tech that are soon coming to market. These projects have pushed me to blend technology, usability, and design sensibilities in ways I hadn’t explored before.

Experimenting with new tools and methods, including Generative AI, has also been a huge part of my growth. I see these technologies not as replacements, but as collaborators that help me explore ideas faster and more creatively.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.salonibedi.work
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saloni.bedi/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salonibedi/
• Other: https://www.behance.net/SaloniBedi

Image Credits

They belong to Saloni Bedi