This reusable face-mask comes with a built-in sensor that tells you when to change the filters

The design community was quick to rise to the challenge of helping the world overcome the Coronavirus, but this came at a cost. Human consumption of plastic tripled in 2020 with the use of surgical face-masks, so designer Ollie Butt decided to combat both the virus and the trail of plastic trash the pandemic left behind. Ollie’s Face Mask (although conceptual) paves the way forward for an aesthetic, efficient, reusable gas mask that can actively filter air coming from the outside, while continuously measuring the quality of the air inside the mask. Equipped with a circuit board on the inside and a bunch of sensors (including one for sensing humidity), and an outward-facing LED strip, the Reusable Face Mask looks and feels cutting-edge.

The LED strip plays a dual role, adding a futuristic flair to the device while also allowing the mask to tell you when to change your filters. The humidity sensor on the inside can detect when the filters need replacing, and a simple plug-in-plug-out design detail lets you swap out old filters for new ones. The reusable mask comes with a silicone seal around the mouth, allowing it to fit comfortably while creating a tight seal, and around-the-head straps ensure you can wear the mask for long hours without worrying about ear-fatigue.

Designer: Ollie Butt

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This sanitizing coat rack is a pandemic-era design that will be a part of the restaurant’s new normal

Whether it be to the grocery store or the library, when I leave the house nowadays, you won’t catch me without my hand sanitizer. No matter how little room I have in my pockets, I won’t leave the house without it. However, most stores are installing hand sanitizing stations in their storefronts in order to encourage sanitary browsing. Typically these stations come in the form of an old, previously discarded working desk with a handwritten note taped on the front that reads a friendly, health code reminder to use the available hand sanitizer before entering the store’s sales floor.

Retail establishments were quick to install their own hand sanitizing stations to their storefronts, but for some, the makeshift health posts end up looking less than sanitary and more like worn-down gatekeepers whose only purpose is to enforce clean shopping. Mexico City-based NOS Design understood how design plays a major role in making this essential health precaution feel a little more inviting, so they teamed up with Trusty Tower to design a sanitizing coat rack that fuses functionality with necessity and looks more familiar and less like an unfortunate sign of the times. Their sanitizing coat rack based on a conventional, average-sized metal tube that’s bent at its top so that bottles of hand sanitizers can be placed at an angle. Just below the metal tube’s bend, a short rod insert holds the hand sanitizer in place, allowing the bottle to be pumped at an angle by pressing the coat rack’s top lid.

Additionally, NOS Design attached four hooks for different items like outerwear, purses, or some trendy mask cases. I know when I enter the stores that require hand sanitizing before browsing, it usually takes a minute for me to set all that I’m carrying down before I can sanitize, and even afterward, gathering all my belongings takes more time than necessary. NOS Design cuts that time in half by assembling a means to sanitize and providing an easy hanging spot for all of your belongings at the same time. Hopefully, since responsible shopping in the age of COVID-19 is so important, with designs like this one, sanitizing your hands won’t feel like such a hassle before you can resume regular (pre-Corona) programming (shopping).

Designer: NOS Design x Trendy Tower