The coronavirus may physically separate people from each other, but society seems to be closer to each other than ever. Companies are also entering into new collaborations to join the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, MARGstudio, in collaboration with Alessio Casciano Design, and Angeletti Ruzza design studio, has developed an alternative idea of the individual face shield called Soffio (the Italian word for ‘blow’ or ‘puff’). It is a new inflatable protective face shield consists of a protective plastic visor and colorful frame with an elastic head strap that can be easily assembled and worn, allowing you to spend convivial time with friends at restaurants and pubs.
The visor creates a 180-degree protective barrier that allows the user to eat or drink while wearing it and maintaining visual and auditory contact with close people. An innovative solution that guarantees customer safety without affecting the convivial side, the crucial point of meals outside the home!
A creative idea of the designers Annalisa Grasselli, Alessio Casciano, and Daniele Ruzza has a practical and witty design, to be worn when needed and to be removed once dinner is over, returning to wear the mask. An invention at a very low cost could represent a valid alternative to everyone with a cost of less than 1 euro. It can be supplied in a small, flat package directly by the bar or restaurant owner at the entrance. After leaving the crowded space, the customer can then take the shield home, wash and sanitize it and reuse it several times.
“Soffio allows you to continue to perform the actions of drinking and to eat exactly as we did them before, but safely,” explained Grasselli. “It does not change our ways of experiencing social life in restaurants or bars.”
Everything is made of PVC with the electronic welding technique, but the creators are already studying a way to be able to build it with recycled plastic, thus recirculating materials already in use.
For now, it is just an idea and not an approved and official personal protective device like the famous masks. However, in this period, every idea is to be analyzed carefully, because some solutions may come precisely from the creativity of the designers.
