Hasta La Ideas

Chinese designer Kiran Zhu has created the Handy Capsule sanitation kit in a bid to encourage better public health habits in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The compact sanitation kit, called the Handy Capsule, contains four types of health supplies: a disposable mask, hand sanitiser, temperature stickers and alcohol wipes.

The soft pebble-shaped case is made from aluminium sheets that have been stamped to take the form of each of the items included inside.

“Through this product, we hope to establish a new language for communication with the public, which is gentle and easy to understand,” Zhu told Dezeen. “It’s very important to find the daily ‘connection point’ with the public.”

“The cobblestone, or so-called ‘capsule’, shape of the design is easy to associate with some fashion supplies, such as beauty makeup,” he added. “It also offers this product more possibilities for role changes.”

As Zhu explained, public health products are usually presented as professional and serious, and this format limits its integration into daily life.

Zhu, who is founder of Shanghai-based design brand Ziinlife, hopes that the modern and sleek design of his Handy Capsule will help such products get the widespread attention they need to encourage better public health habits.

“When medical supplies become more fashionable and beautiful as daily necessities, the language of delivery will be more relatable,” said the designer.

“People will be willing to pay for them, and they can use them spontaneously and voluntarily,” he added. “We wish to turn a good public health habit into a trend.”

Designed for daily use and portability, the kit measures 12.5 centimetres long and 9 centimetres wide, with a thickness of just 2.5 centimetres.

It has an embedded magnetic clasp to make it easy to open and close, and has a belt-like attachment on its side to enable the user to hang it from their arm or loop it around their bag.

Zhu co-founded Ziinlife together with fellow designer Yang Xili in 2013 in a bid to share “the value of design” with the public.

Zhu’s Handy Capsule was recently added to a collection of conceptual products that aim to improve public health in the wake of Covid-19, which are collected under the title of the Create Cures project.

This project also saw Chinese architect Sun Dayong create a mobile body shield that would protect a wearer during a viral outbreak by using UV light to sterilise itself.

Other designs in the Create Cures collection include a sterilising lamp that combines an ultraviolet (UV) light with a tray and a cubic “capsule” that people can assemble themselves to use while working.

The post Kiran Zhu’s portable sanitation kit aims to improve public hygiene appeared first on Dezeen.