We believe that it's important to choose a mask to fit the shape of your face, and not merely based on filter performance.
In development, we strove to bring hay fever sufferers more active daily lives by improving the protection offered by a mask through a combination of two features: "a pollen trapping filter" and "prevention of pollen entry through gaps between the mask and face".
The Good Design Award is a design promotion activity sponsored by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, which is intended to guide our lifestyles, industry and society as a whole, to a more bountiful place through the selection and recognition of "good design" from among a variety of developmental phenomena.
This honor is given to especially outstanding products among those selected as winners of the
Good Design Award 2014 of Small and Medium Enterprises.
100 Good Design Award winners for 2014 that received particularly high reviews by the review board.
Almost all masks up until now have been made of non-elastic, non-woven fabric, so that even though they may have high filter performance, they have not provided the ground-breaking solution of fitting snugly to individual facial structures to eliminate gaps.
PITTA MASK's maximum utilization of the properties of polyurethane foam as a total solution to the problems of blocking particles, facial fit and ear pain, is a stunning achievement. Users will also be relieved at the fact that they can wash and reuse them.
Each of the 71 review board members chooses an entry from the 2014 Good Design Award winners, which attracted their attention, and writes a column introducing it.
Fits to your face to block out pollen.
The product features an ideal cell size and density for trapping pollen, a 3-D mesh structure made of soft elastic polyurethane, and an extremely simple form consisting of a three dimensional shape joined vertically in the center with round ear holes designed to reduce tension on the ears.
This 3-D mesh structure material is designed not only to trap pollen, but also to allow air to pass through for ease of breathing, and to be washable for repeated use.
With the technical ingenuity of the material, and the simple shape based on it, the product can be said to demonstrate an ideal form for a mask.
I'm looking forward to future improvements in usability related to the color and smell of the material.
