Mani Nilchiani is a creative leader, interdisciplinary designer, technologist & musician passionate about creating meaningful, human-centered products, services and communities.

In his music, he explores the notion of home as an evolving in-transit space of memory. He uses elements of Iranian classical music (Radif) to retrace, explore and retell a story of displacement while researching future-facing sonic spaces.

In 2018, Mani co-founded Disco Tehran, an internationally acclaimed live event series & cultural platform, and co-led this initiative until late 2022: helping create community, produce and performing live events, releasing music and launching various digital products including an online cinema & an independent streaming service.

From 2019-23 he served as a Design Lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, where he led multidisciplinary teams to deliver innovative human-centered products and services across various domains, including healthcare, education, mobility, and retail.

Mani has performed in venues such as MoMA PS1, Public Records, Barbes, Symphony Space & DROM.

His work has been featured in NY Times, NY Mag, Vice Noisey, CNN & It’s Nice That among other publications. His music has been published by Remix ⟷ Culture.

He received his MFA in Design & Technology from Parsons School of Design where he has occasionally taught. He lives and works between NYC and Mexico City.

Here are the teaching materials.

📝 Here is my CV
✉️ Drop me a line
📷 Cyrus Moussavi & Brittany Nugent