Smile Masks was a side project that took off and managed to suck up an unexpected amount of my time for a few months. During the initial Covid lock-down I did an illustration for a mask, and designed a custom fabric cut for it. With the help of my girlfriend we created the first handmade units, and started selling them online on Instagram and Etsy.
Sales took off quite nicely, and in a short amount of time, we sold and shipped 300 plus masks all around the world. To people from Alaska to Japan (really)! And we even began to bring in other illustrators to create new models. But being handmade was a pressure that wasn't sustainable in the long term, especially with high demand, and so we stopped production a few months later. But it was a really fun ride!
DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION: DANIEL MACHADO
PROTOTYPING & MANUFACTURING: NÉLIA CARREIRA
PROTOTYPING & MANUFACTURING: NÉLIA CARREIRA
