The options for individuals living with a damaged or a missing eye are limited - typically eye patches, adhesive pads, or prosthetics. For those waiting on a custom prosthetic eye, this interim period can be especially difficult, often involving daily use of disposable coverings that can feel clinical, uncomfortable, and deeply tied to a loss of identity. Dispatch rethinks this experience.
Through a co-design process, individuals can shape the aesthetic to reflect their personality, offering a sense of agency during a time that often feels out of their control. The result is a bespoke, protective eyewear system that functions more like a fashion accessory than a medical device, while maintaining the medical considerations.
Most patients already have a 3D scan, CT, or MRI. These datasets provide the foundation for a precise, personalized design. A bespoke model is developed directly on the individual’s 3D facial scan, ensuring an accurate fit and refined aesthetic.
From concealment to expression. Most rely on temporary solutions like eye patches, bandages, or improvised coverings made from medical supplies. These are often uncomfortable, ill-fitting, and visually associated with injury or illness. They offer little in the way of dignity, personal expression, or control. The gap - between surgery and prosthetic - represents an overlooked part of the recovery journey. One where patients are navigating not only physical healing, but also a disrupted sense of self, with limited tools to support them.
Designer and recipient collaborate to explore direction, shaping concepts that reflect both functional needs and personal expression. The final design is additively manufactured, enabling one-off production without the cost and constraints of traditional tooling.
By combining medical data, co-design, and rapid prototyping, they explore how personalization and aesthetics can foster dignity, confidence, and a more meaningful relationship between people and the objects they wear.
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Dispatch
The options for individuals living with a damaged or a missing eye are limited - typically eye patches, adhesive pads, or prosthetics.
Rather than focusing on mimicry, this project explores an alternative approach to eye coverings. Framing eye coverage as a form of personal expression - using 3D scanning and 3D printing, each piece is custom-designed to the individual’s face, creating a precise, comfortable fit that contours naturally to their features. Rather than attempting to replace prosthetics or eyepatches, Dispatch aims to add to an individual's collection of eye coverings to suit their context of use.
