Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka has created a quick and easy face shield for healthcare workers fighting Covid-19, which attaches to the wearer’s glasses.
Yoshioka‘s template design can be used to create a face shield in three simple steps from a clear sheet of PET or PVC plastic.
Printed on an A3 piece of paper, the template can be placed over the top of a clear sheet of plastic and used as a guideline for cutting around the edge of the shape.
The user can then make cuts into the plastic sheet over the two small lines indicated towards the top of the template on opposite sides.
The two temple arms of the wearer’s glasses can then be slotted into these incisions, leaving the glasses protected by the shield as they sit behind it on the user’s face.
“I am grateful to the brave and dedicated healthcare workers for fighting the contagious disease,” said Yoshioka.
“I’d like to share my quick and simple face shield idea for emergency situation with shortage of medical supplies,” he added.
“I hope this can be of any help to healthcare workers.”
Yoshioka joins a host of designers and architects also creating pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to help replenish the shortages brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. US physician and epidemiologist Michael Edmond has recommended that everyone should try and wear a face shield.
“I believe that if every person wore a face shield when out of their home, we would bend the curve faster and return to normal life sooner,” he told Dezeen.
Architecture studio Foster + Partners has designed a laser-cut face shield that can be manufactured quickly and disassembled, sanitised and reused after wearing.
Nike has also created face shields and lenses for air-purifying respirators with materials from its footwear, while Apple has shared its design for face shields made from three pieces: the face shield, a forehead strap and a silicone strap.
Yoshioka’s template can be downloaded for free using the following link.
The template includes three different shield sizes: a large size with a height of 250 millimetres (mm) and a width of 265 mm, a medium size of 215 mm by 265 mm, or a smaller size of 200 mm by 265 mm.
The designer’s studio has also shared an instruction video showing how to assemble the face shield on its Instagram, Twitter and YouTube channels.
One of Yoshioka’s most recent designs was for the 2020 Olympic torch, which he designed to resemble Japan’s traditional cherry blossom flower.
The games, however, have been postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Set to begin in Tokyo on 24 July, the Olympics will now take place “no later than summer 2021”.
