Open offices have driven Panasonic to make horse blinders for humans

At what point do we just give up and admit we’re living in exactly the dystopian nightmare speculative fiction warned us about? It probably ought to be these horse blinders for people, which look like something straight out of a Terry Gilliam movie. 

Panasonic design studio Future Life Factory designed the things, but open space offices are basically the worst. The startup-driven push to eliminate the world from the tyranny of the cubicle has apparently driven us to create cubicles for our faces that have the added bonus of making workers look like their identity has been blurred out on Cops. 

Along with obscuring the wearer’s peripheral vision, Wear Space (weirdly Office Face is still unclaimed), also sports noise-canceling headphones to really get the job done.

“As open offices and digital nomads are on the rise, workers are finding it ever more important to have personal space where they can focus,” the company told Dezeen. “Wear Space instantly creates this kind of personal space – it’s as simple as putting on an article of clothing.”

The device, which debuted as a prototype at SXSW earlier this year, is now the subject of a crowdfunding campaign. Early birds can snag one for around $260, but we’re going to say neigh on this one.