For Greta Saggus, industrial design is about problem solving.
Concerned about the vast amount of food Australians throw out each year, the 21-year-old designed an appliance that converts kitchen waste into healthy dry food for pets.
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Her Scraps Snacks innovation was a standout at the exhibition for industrial design graduates at the University of NSW, where the Director of Industrial Design, Stephen Ward, said it "ticks boxes in waste reduction and urban living".
Ms Saggus, who is finishing her final year at UNSW, said she enjoyed the freedom of industrial design. "It's about finding a product solution to any problem," she said. "It's a very broad thing. You can work in car design, or small-scale bespoke furniture design, or be designing cups for IKEA."
There has been a surge in the number of women studying industrial design over the past decade. A generation ago only a handful of women were enrolled in industrial design courses; now, between one-third and a half of those studying the discipline are women.
Rina Bernabei, a senior lecturer in industrial design at UNSW, said that "as the profession becomes more known and design consciousness is growing in Australia", more women were signing up for industrial design.
But the growing number of female students was not reflected in the workplace, she said, with the industry and consultancies still tending to be dominated by men. Of more than 100 designers inducted into the Design Institute of Australia's hall of fame, only 21 are women - and none of those are industrial designers.
Ms Bernabei said that even with a degree, "very few" women stay in industrial design, with many verging into marketing, exhibition design or graphic design.
"In Australia we tend to just stick to our very traditional manufacturing," she said. "The industry is very small, so anybody who wants to do anything more craft driven or artisan, it isn't really possible to do that, even though the major trends are turning that way. A lot of women who do tend more towards that approach don't find a spot for themselves."
Ms Bernabei, who worked in Milan before founding industrial design company bernabeifreeman with Kelly Freeman, a former student, plans to offer a mentoring program next year for female industrial design students, to maximise their opportunities and help them "see that there are paths for them".
Cathy Lockhart, who lectures in the School of Design at the University of Technology, Sydney, was struck by how few female industrial designers were being recognised with major industry awards. She has hosted forums and curated exhibitions for women in industrial design and examined their transition from university to the workplace.
"I know I've got female graduates out there, and I'm seeing my male graduates receiving awards," she said. "It's like, 'Where are all the women? Why aren't you here?' There is a change happening, it's just a really slow one."
Dr Lockhart said that once students graduated, gender discrimination and inflexible work patterns could influence their career choices. As a result, female industrial designers often carved out their own paths.
"They're not necessarily going mainstream and they're not necessarily going into those roles that are called industrial designers," she said. "They're being quite creative and they're going out and doing their own thing. They're still designing, they're still manufacturing, but they're in control."
Ms Saggus, who is now exploring commercial possibilities for her Scraps Snacks appliance, said it was disappointing that gender stereotypes persisted.
"It's considered to be such a technical degree, and I think there's still a stereotype that that's a little bit too hard for [women]," she said.
"The stereotype is that the women who go into industrial design are more on the creative side of things, the arty side - they can't handle the technical stuff, the hard stuff. I don't think it's very fair."