Artist Dominic Wilcox Invents Glasses That Allow Short People To See The World From ‘Above’
One Foot Taller Periscope glasses
This device designed by Dominic Wilcox (previously) allows the wearer to see ‘one foot taller’ (30.5cm) than their normal eye level.
More: Dominic Wilcox, Instagram, Facebook h/t: boredpanda
“I was standing at a gig and turned to see a small woman dancing away but unable to see the band. This gave me the inspiration to design a way for people to see over obstacles such as tall people like me.”
The piece was made from one sheet of mirrored acrylic bent precisely. Microsoft Surface challenged Dominic to think up some everyday problems and solve them with an extraordinary solution for an exhibition in London.
Dominic Wilcox works between the worlds of art, design, craft and technology to create innovative, thought provoking and surprising objects. The British artist and designer studied at The Royal College of Art, graduating in 2002. He exhibits his work internationally and has been commissioned by brands such as BMW MINI, Kelloggs and Paul Smith.
His work includes the world’s first GPS shoes, a stained glass driverless sleeper car of the future and tiny sculptures balanced on the hands of watches. He is now on a mission to inspire children to become the inventors of the future with his Little Inventors project:
“I’ve convinced myself that within everything that surrounds us, there are hundreds of ideas and connections waiting to be found. We just need to look hard enough. Some of my ideas develop from observations on human behaviour and I express them through the objects I create. I also experiment with materials to try to find surprises that can’t be found simply by thinking with a pen or a computer.”
The Directing Jacket
Artist and designer Dominic Wilcox was challenged by Microsoft Surface to come up with two solutions to everyday problems for an exhibition called Extraordinary Solutions to Everyday Problems held in the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London from the 21st to the 23rd of May.
The Directing Jacket aims to solve the age old problem of walking straight towards an oncoming person and neither knowing what side to walk by on. There is a ‘Dance of Indecision’ as you try to work out what side the other person is deciding on.
Ice Tray and Snow Shoe Grips in one
Multi use objects are a tempting but difficult area for designers. They normally end up being not very good at either of the individual uses. I was asked by Goodyear tyres to think up and draw 30 objects that could be used in all seasons rather than just one. I turned 3 ideas into real things.
One of my multi use ideas was these shoe grips that help you keep your feet in wintery or muddy conditions but also double up as ice cube trays for the summer days under the sun. Practical and refreshing.
Cereal Serving Head Crane Device
Kellogg’s challenged artist and designer Dominic Wilcox to make breakfast more interesting and fun for families and children going back to school in September. Over the course of 10 weeks he designed 7 inventions and prototypes from a robot spoon to a head worn cereal serving device.
One idea Dominic created was a Cereal Serving Head Crane Device. Instead of just pouring your cereal into your bowl you can now use this milk powered hydraulic crane device worn on your head. The arms are powered by syringes containing milk that act in a similar way to hydraulics on large industrial diggers. Push and pull the plungers to move the arms and then shovel cereal from the box to your bowl. The final move is to press down the white plunger that squirts out milk into the bowl ready for eating.
After making a quick prototype in cardboard, a plastic version was created out of laser cut pieces. It takes only a few minutes of practice to get used to the controls and makes serving breakfast a lot more fun.
