Thanks to COVID-19, and—more specifically—a delayed mitigation push here in the U.S., the live concert element of the music industry has remained on an effective pause. While many artists and managers were previously holding out hope that postponed dates could be pushed into late 2020, an increasing number of tours originally slated for this year are being canceled outright or being retooled with 2021 in mind.
The multidisciplinary design team at Production.Club out of Los Angeles, meanwhile, has taken up the task of imagining what a protective concert suit might look like.
"Introducing Micrashell, a suit that allows you to safely socialize in times of pandemic," an explainer from the team shared in late April states. Per a rep, the team aimed to "leverage our experience in event production" to imagine a possible solution for pandemic-era events.
Speaking with Fast Company, Miguel Risueño—the company’s head of invention—detailed how a guiding principle for the project was to focus on technologies and features that were realistic for our current time instead of fully leaning into futurism.
"If we don't do that, we're just navel-gazing instead of actually trying to solve a problem," Risueño said.
Notable features, at least for those aiming to ensure libations and sexual contact are a possibility, include a "drink and vaping canister supply system" that allows for such ingestion without helmet removal being required.
"We also tried to make sure that if you wanted to have sex, it's also something you could do," Risueño said of the Micrashell suit, which was recently reported to be undergoing "feasibility analysis" while discussions with potential production partners take place.
Personally, I can't wait to (hopefully) mosh to "The Scotts" in one of these.
