- Exclusively designed for people who wear turbans and are unable use normal masks
- Desmania is also developing AARMR Series of masks and accessories for all sections of people
- The quick prototype design of the mask with its extension was made psooible with 3D printing
Turban is not just a piece of cloth, it’s an emotion for our Sikh brothers. It’s a faith that represents the pinnacle of their pride, honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality and piety, without which their unique Sikh identity is incomplete. Amidst COVID-19 pandemic, face masks have become an essential part of individuals’ daily routine and hopefully, it will continue to be used in the post-pandemic era as well. But even though it is the first line of defence to restrict the risk of COVID-19, 90% of available face masks in India are not designed user-friendly to the turbanators.
Desmania Design Private Limited came up with AARMR TURBANTR, a face mask, snug fit and agile, uniquely designed with cotton fabric and plastic for our Sikh brothers. This mask will ensure that they can continue holding their pride without hampering or compromising their safety.
Speaking to the Machine Maker, Anuj Prasad, Founder and CEO of Desmania Design Pvt Ltd stated, “As a design company, our profession demands to solve user-centric problems. We have a few Sikhs in our office and we found that they were not wearing standard masks but were rather covering their face with handkerchief or cloth. On further probe, we found that the standard masks do not fit the turban of a Sikh. So we decided to solve the problem by designing a new mask extension”.
Masks for Mass
In the wake of COVID-19, they have been actively participating to assist the nation in the unprecedented situation by supplying various solutions, not exclusively to the front liners but even to the common citizens of the country, among which the new range of AARMR is one. Within this range of AARMR, they are developing masks and are attempting to create numerous products and accessories to empower various sections of society. The mask for turbanators is a part of this creative thinking with agile development.
Our goal is to create a series of products that meets the need of Indian people. In this series, we have many more masks and accessories with are focussed particularly on the delivery boys, travellers, workforce and doctors
Anuj Prasad
Founder and CEO, Desmania Design Pvt Ltd
During the conversation, when the team encountered the problem confronted by the turbanators, they collectively came up with the idea of designing the extension and within a very short time, the prototype was ready by utilising 3D printing. “Quick realisation of design through the iterative process is behind the philosophy of design thinking”, says Prasad. He even added that at Desmania, they do believe in quick conceptualization, under which with a few trials and refinements they could consummate the design. Trials and resolving problems through fine detailing is intrinsic in their development procedure.
Challenges Confronted
The lockdown was a new phenomenon for all of us but it didn’t stop Desmania from being innovative. But it wasn’t easy for the team to develop masks because of the stringent orders of lockdown. Being vocal about the challenges faced, Anuj shared that the availability of raw material was drastically curtailed and in the initial days they had to work from home. But somehow they decided to take permission to open their workshop for making essential goods and developed many models of masks.
The availability of manpower and the risk of contamination among the workforce attending the office also created numerous constraints
“Though the services are still skeletal, we were able to manage a self-motivated team”, says Prasad. As these are challenging and experimenting times, confronting them with boldness is most imperative to utilise the time and resources to accomplish success, which the team Desmania justified efficiently.
Marketing Progress
Currently, the team has supplied the AARMR TURBANATR masks directly to many people in their network and its uniqueness has raised a great deal of interest. Therefore, to bridge the gap of demands they are looking forward to selecting efficient channel partners to make it reach the masses. They are selling a set of 5 cotton masks with two extensions in a pack and it costs around Rs 775.
This year, AARMR should become a leading brand in innovative masks that are user-centric
Through our design thinking process, we have created featured masks for different cross-sections of the society and you will soon be seeing a variety of designs in the market”, says Anuj. The team has decided to focus on designing masks that can cater to the Indian audience and tackle specific problems related to socio-cultural needs after the lockdown. Apart from this, they even came up with transparent masks which have gained popularity among the front liners such as police, delivery boy etc during the demo period.
Message to the Nation
Conveying a message to the nation, Anuj says, “Never waste a crisis! There is always a positive side to any situation and we need to leverage it through collective thinking and team spirit. It is a good time to look inwards and awaken the genius in us. We have an opportunity of designing and making in India and we should fearlessly come in the forefront. Let’s resolve to harness our talent and hard work to create a global impact”.
Gurgaon based Desmania is one of the top three multi-disciplinary design companies in India with a glorious history of over 25 years. Desmania’s customers include from FMCG, Consumer Durables, Medical Equipment to the Automotive Verticals.
For more details contact: www.desmania.com