How often have you wondered, the helmet could have a more compact shape when its core purpose is not required? In fact, when you are carrying other life-saving equipment and the helmet, could be flattened for easy storage in the backpack make life just so much easier!

Helmets have become the first line of defense for a plethora of activities and for obvious reasons. The first respondent teams and natural disaster missions are prime examples. But this life-saving accessory is not always needed and takes up space to store which could have a better solution in the technology-dominated world we live in. A folding helmet is a logical answer to the storage woes, and implementing the idea is not as simple as it might seem.

Thus comes into the picture a minimalist helmet that keeps things as intended without sacrificing the shape and design. Nor does it make things complicated as far as function goes – thereby, making it a perfect accessory for emergency situations in a wide array of fields. Designed by Tokyo-based R&D Mak, the intuitive design of the folding helmet falls flat like flat-pack furniture. It’s basically a helmet that you can squeeze like a burrito for keeping in backpacks, drawers or closets. The simple pull mechanism to unfold it is the simplest I’ve seen thus far. To squeeze it to a compact form, just pressing the button on the rear section does the trick.

So, practically speaking we are talking about storing two folding helmets where only a single helmet would occupy the same space. The final product is a result of repeated prototyping until the most satisfying result was achieved for the team at R&D Mak. It is a god-sent solution for emergency respondents who now don’t have to carry the bulk of a bloated helmet all the time.

Designer: R&D Mak

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