We Started With a Problem We Couldn't Ignore.
Ghazaleh Afrahi was deep into product design work when she noticed something nobody was solving: 3D printing generates significant plastic waste, and there was no practical, local solution for it. Not for makers. Not for small manufacturers. Not for schools.
So she built one.
Who We Are
Shifting Shap3s is a clean-tech startup, founded in 2021, at the intersection of product design engineering, material science, and circular economy thinking. We compound unique materials, build user-centred technology and deliver assessments that help organizations turn waste into value, measurably.
We’re based in Halifax, Canada, working with innovators, manufacturers, institutions, and investors who want sustainability to mean something concrete.
Meet the founder
Ghazaleh Afrahi
CEO & Founder
Meet Ghazaleh Afrahi, founder and CEO of Shifting Shap3s. Holder of two bachelors and a MSc, she was originally trained as a product design engineer. Not one to rest on her laurels, she has since put on yet another hat: that of hard-tech entrepreneur.
After briefly working alongside regional fellow entrepreneurs in Atlantic Canada, she struck out on her own. Her goal? To create a company that merges cutting-edge technology with user-centered design and ambitious—yet attainable—sustainability goals. The result? Her brainchild: Shifting Shap3s.
Undeterred by doubters and naysayers, she forged her own path, proving that idealism and good business don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Always focused on the relationship between product and end user, she takes people as her point of departure when setting out to create bold and innovative new concepts.
A female entrepreneur and part of a visible minority in Canada, she has had to work twice as hard for recognition and faced double the scrutiny. But rather than let that deter or even discourage her, she wears it as a badge of honor; everything she has achieved, she has earned—and then some!
Ever curious, she is a fearless student of all technology that has the potential of benefitting her concepts. A new challenge? Yes, please! Teaming up with collaborators scattered across the globe from North America to Europe and Asia, she continues to push the envelope of sustainable hard tech.
Ghazaleh currently lives with her husband in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Canada’s rugged Atlantic coast. Sustained by long walks on the beach and inspiring road trips, she conceives of new ways to improve the relationship between the planet, the people, and the things they use.
How We Work
We’re a small, focused team. We collaborate closely with partners across North America, Europe, and Asia, and mentor early-stage founders and students along the way. Every engagement is tailored to the real constraints and goals of the people we work with. No templates. No one-size-fits-all sustainability.
What drives us
Plastic waste from digital fabrication is a growing problem, and for too long, the burden of solving it has been placed on individual makers and manufacturers without giving them real tools to act. Guilt without infrastructure changes nothing.
We believe the fix is systemic. Better materials, better machines, better data; designed around the people who actually use them. That’s where Ghazaleh’s background in product design engineering and UX becomes the company’s core advantage: every solution we build works for people—not the other way around. Conceived with empathy and designed to be intuitive, our products bring the focus back to what really matters: the freedom to create.
Three principles shape everything we do:
- Circular by design: waste is a resource problem, not a disposal problem
- Human-centered from the start: technology only works if people can actually use it
- Measurable impact: sustainability has to be quantifiable to be actionable