bring your own mask: 41 swiss designers present face mask proposals

for the past few months we have been under the full force attack of an invisible enemy. the COVID-19 pandemic surprised us all, bringing with it a series of emergency measures for the whole world. from travel restrictions to lockdowns and masks, the pandemic drastically changed the way we live and urged us to face it together. to bounce back from the current events and to offer a strong response, HyperAktiv.li — a swiss initiative for applied innovation — launched the BYOM (bring your own mask) project.

‘summer wave’ by atelier I+N
images courtesy of bring your own mask

the BYOM (bring your own mask) project by HyperAktiv.li invited swiss industrial and product designers to reinterpret the design of face masks. the goal is to propose different designs that go in the same direction of excellence, exhibiting the swiss know-how in terms of innovation while combining cutting-edge aesthetics, avant-garde support and ingenious functionality.

‘add’ by florian hauswirth

the brief was completely open and the interpretations were free, with an aim of offering a showcase for swiss designers. there were no technical, material or industrial reality constraints. despite the sensitive subject, the invited designers were able to restore strong values and overcome the anxiety-provoking connotation of the object by the force of the design, the poetry of aesthetics and the beauty of the concepts.

’emotion: smile’ by renaud defrancesco

overall, BYOM (bring your own mask) received 37 projects from 41 swiss designers. the variety of the entries is very rich resulting in projects that are abundant in intelligence, poetry and ingenuity. a junior section was also created, allowing young design students to present projects and to show that the next swiss generation of creatives is thriving. scroll through the pictures to see some of the projects or head over to the webpage to see the complete catalogue.

‘l’usage unique du monde’ by laurent soldin