Thalassic Masks Creates New Medical Mask Concepts with 3D Printing

The Thalassic Masks project focuses on re-thinking the protective mask, transforming a medical product, born in a state of emergency, into a design statement expressing contemporary identities. The latest creation by designer Filippo Nassetti uses PolyJet technology to create a series of wearable masks that define and represent the times we are living in.

Drawing inspiration from marine forms, Thalassic combines biomimetic design techniques, additive manufacturing and physiological analysis to create a new breed of masks, as well as rethink the relationship between technology, in the form of wearable objects, and the human body.

In that sense, the scope of the Thalassic Masks project goes beyond the products themselves, but it is a reflection of how our lives are transformed by the dramatic and sudden global events of these years.

Filippo Nassetti has explored the wearable 3D printed mask concept in the past, even before face masks became a health requirement in many parts of the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic, as a mix between a protective device and an artistic means of expression.

For past projects, he had used mainly SLS technology to enhance and explore generative design and extreme shapes. For the Thalassic Mask project, Nassetti used for the first time multi-color material jetting PolyJet technology, exploring radical, high-precision shapes with different density materials and in different colors.

In 2012, Nassetti co-founded MHOX, a EU-funded research practice and start-up focused on the design of radical artifacts and wearable products through computational techniques and 3D printing. The contribution of MHOX to generative design gained international recognition through a number of experimental projects, such as Collagene, Carapace and Superabundance Masks, Generative Orthoses, ENEA walking stick and the designs of prostheses.

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Author: Davide Sher