What’s the future of adaptive design? That’s the question that Open Style Lab poses. Mallon-Michalove is on the board of the nonprofit, which was established in 2014. Jun is also the chief executive of Open Style Lab, an incubator for accessible and fashionable clothing designs, wearable technology and other universally usable products. As an assistant professor at Parsons School of Design, she teaches a course in clothing construction that asks students to incorporate the needs of consumers who use wheelchairs, some of whom have limited use of their arms or who don’t have a great deal of manual dexterity. Jun’s consideration of how a mask interferes with lip-reading is a natural extension of her day job. There are myriad YouTube tutorials on how to make them.
There are countless iterations of face coverings to be had online: plain cotton, floral prints, even sequined ones - which may be a bigger dose of fashion than one really wants from something that is hopefully very, very temporary. “If you can’t sew, you could use staples or safety pins.” “Even if you don’t have a sewing machine, I think anyone could make it,” Jun says. The mask can be secured to the head using cloth ties or elastic hair bands. There’s also distinctive curved stitching at the top and bottom that Jun says would allow the mask to follow the jawline without compromising breathability. They run alongside the bridge of the nose and the chin, and are intended to make it easier to customize the fit. Jun’s pattern, which is larger than the standard, is distinguished by its simple, vertical pleats. The see-through vinyl would also leave one’s mouth visible when communicating with someone who’s hearing impaired. But now that the White House has issued guidance urging people to wear face coverings in public, Jun offers what she hopes is a more inclusive, do-it-yourself option - one that she advises could be stitched from washable fabric, or even a clear shower curtain, which would make it easy to wipe down and disinfect. Jun’s mask isn’t medical-grade and it doesn’t replace the rules about social distancing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She designed a face covering - one that can be stitched up at home, one that aims to offer a better fit for a wider range of faces than the standard pleated variety. And her buddy, Christina Mallon-Michalove, has a motor neuron disease that not only compromises her breathing but also has paralyzed her arms and shoulders.Īfter sending her one of the last disposable masks she had, Jun got to work on something reusable.
Jun specializes in adaptive design - creating products that can be used by people with a range of disabilities. The conversation was not just a case of one friend venting to another. In New York City a couple weeks ago, at the epicenter of this country’s coronavirus crisis, Grace Jun received an urgent phone call from a friend who needed a face mask. So.Grace Jun explains how she created her mask pattern
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