Tag Archives: Breathe

This Nike-inspired fidget tool + massager is a stress-relief EDC for pro footballers

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Football players are shaped to be performance-oriented, however not much is spoken about the toll taken on their mental health; a designer believes a fidget-like device with a massage feature may do the trick.

Fear and anxiety hound us everywhere. Whether on the field, in the classroom, or at a party with friends; you name a situation and you’ll find anxiety is shadowing you. For sportsmen, anxiety is a part of the game, with each player having their own little ritual to help them focus – we have heard about players considering throwing up good luck to even the lucky jersey, personal battles to mitigate stress are fought by everyone.

According to data shared by Professional Footballers’ Association, a huge number of players are now seeking help for mental health issues ranging from performance, competition, to acceptance. Since there is no existing product that addresses the issues governing mental health directly, Breathe, is a device designed specifically to help footballers prevent anxiety.

The handy gadget designed by Varun Anand is a fidget EDC/tool that uses buttons. The oval plastic body features soft foam material on the underside which mimics the shiatsu massage technique. The entire device works as a solution to help the user stay calm and relaxed pre and post-game, improving the player’s overall performance.

Inspired by Nike’s design language and branding, the Breathe also calms the user by delivering positive messages and storing peppermint gums within its cavity. The anxiety kit uses stimuli such as texture, feel, touch and feedback to reduce anxiety and stress, allowing players to focus. Breathe fits ergonomically in the hand and is attached to an anti-slip strap, so a footballer can use it during practice and is easier to store when not in use!

Designer: Varun Anand

An air purifier you can wear as a necklace!

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Today clean air is becoming more of a luxury than a bare necessity needed to survive. With the Earth’s atmosphere deteriorating by the minute, the health hazards are increasing manifolds. Lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death in the world. 6 million people die annually from smoking, 500,000 of those due to passive smoking. Pollution in large cities can take away 2-3 years off life expectancy. Moved by such dreary numbers, designers Jordan Steranka and Tai Geng decided to do their bit in moving towards a healthier and prolonged life for everybody. They created ‘Breathe’, an air purification product that provides us with clean air with every breath we take. Shaped like a nifty whistle, the primary goal was to make ‘Breathe’ as minute and handy as possible, without restricting airflow. Portability and physical comfort of the user were of the utmost importance. Equipped with a carbon filter that is connected to air sensors, and a removable mouthpiece which allows us to inhale through ‘Breathe’, it filters unclean air to allow it’s purest form to enter our system. The open structure allows for consistent airflow through an oblong airway, which also directs the airflow.

Huge attention to detail was given to the form factor of ‘Breathe’. The aim was to create a functional and fashionable product through the use of simple geometry. A braided necklace loop allows us to wear ‘Breathe’ around our necks! Looking like a trendy necklace, it bears minimal weight and is extremely convenient to carry around, unlike other current filtration devices which tend to be heavy and cumbersome. It’s a new form of an otherwise traditional wearable mask, which can be quite uncomfortable to wear and carry around. One of it’s most appealing features is that it comes along with a partnering app! The app displays how beneficial ‘Breathe’ is to our health. The device stores and collects data while in use. Once it is plugged into a smartphone via the audio jack, the data is uploaded automatically onto the app. The app exhibits all the particles, gases and toxins that are prevented from being inhaled by us, and where they can be found most commonly. Not to forget, Breathe’s battery is being charged throughout this! Highly functional, portable and convenient, ‘Breathe’ could literally be a lifesaver and will surely pave a path for a new era in air purifiers, replacing the age-old conventional masks!

Designer: Jordan Steranka and Tai Geng

UK design student creates a smart chest binder for trans people

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A UK design student created a smart wearable that could make chest binding safer, easier and more comfortable for transgender men and non-binary people. Chest binding is the act of flattening one's breasts using a tight garment in order to make the c...

People who live in fabric houses…

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There’s no stubbing your toe against the threshold or accidentally bumping into the wall with the Breathe. This experimental home by SO-IL was debuted at the Salone Del Mobile this year as a prototype for the future living environment. Made out of a metallic framework with a porous fabric draped over it, the house is called Breathe, and allows its residents to interact with the outdoors by virtually bringing it indoors. According to SO-IL, in contrast to a standard home with rooms having fixed uses, Breathe was designed as a loose stack of porous ‘realms’, each with a different atmosphere and experience. The porous fabric can be replaced with other fabrics depending on climate constraints.

We feel Breathe makes for a great addition to or a facade for an existing building, rather than being a standalone building itself. Call us old-fashioned, but we still like the idea of being able to pull the curtains and shut out the outside world for some privacy! Thoughts? Could this usher in a new way of living, and of construction… with parts of a building ditching the traditional concrete walls, floors, and ceilings?

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Air filtration’s a breeze

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Apart from looking cool, gas masks do a pretty good job of suffocating us. What do you expect if you put a sheet of cloth against your face though? Designer Yeo Ruifeng has a nifty approach to this problem. Remove the filter and replace it with an invisible coating that’s free. Air! The very stuff we inhale! The BREATHE mask creates an “air curtain” (yes, it exists) around the nose and mouth. The clever thing is you’re still breathing in purified air. Bad air is sucked into the device through the air intake at the back, and gets purified through a HEPA Filter. This air is then propelled through the air exit tubes that rest around the ears. These tubes push out the clean air, and create a veil of breathable air around the mouth and nose. Not only is this air safe to breathe, the barrier it creates prevents you from breathing in contaminated air!

Now while I still think a motorized gas mask is a tad bit complicated as compared to regular cloth based gas masks, and not to mention the fact that this technology and schematic hasn’t been tested yet, it clearly looks promising! And hey, what an idea, right?!

Designer: Yeo RuiFeng

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