
Shai Akram is a designer, maker and researcher whose work explores the messy and often beautiful overlap between craft, industry and culture. She is co-founder of Studio Alt Shift, a design practice focused on material research, narrative, and collaborative making. Alongside commissioned work for restaurants, exhibitions and interiors, Shai is undertaking a PhD exploring how systems of production can support equitable collaboration between artisans and industry — making room for both hand skill and scaled manufacture. Recent fieldwork in Costa Rica explored repair cultures, decentralised making, and the relationship between place, material and story. Shai regularly contributes to public conversations around craft and production, and has spoken at events including the Crafts Council, London Craft Week and British Council platforms.