Industrial designer Siew Ming Cheng has evidently had enough of being pushed and shoved on the Singapore subway. Those space-invading commuters have brushed up against, knocked and pushed her one too many times, and now the young creative is declaring war on space snatchers with special body armour: the Spike Away vest.
Cheng dreamed up the frightening fashion accessory during a workshop run by world-famous German furniture designer Werner Aisslinger at the National University of Singapore. The class challenged designers to come up with novel solutions to common problems, using only everyday objects to do so.
Designs did not necessarily have to be a practical so long as they solved the initial problem–in this case overcrowding and fellow passengers invading one’s personal space on the train, an issue that we’re sure many people living in cities like Tokyo are only too familiar with.
The young designer decided that a protective layer of spikes would be more than enough to keep pushy passengers at bay, and whipped the up the Spike Away vest using only ordinary gardening supplies, commenting that the plastic strips she chose were a fitting choice as they are routinely employed to keep unwanted visitors away from delicate plants in the garden.
Using a few cable ties, the vest requires surprisingly little construction.
Ready to rumble
Yup, that’d work!
You can check out more of Cheng’s inspiring work over at Behance. Just don’t get too close to her or you’re likely to lose an eye.