In Europe and the United States, especially in the United States, many companies provided partitioned work spaces and private rooms for their employees. However, open office has been booming in recent years. It is said that 70% of offices in an environment where other employees can be seen and heard, as in Japan.

In offices with cubicles or private rooms, it's easy to never meet or talk to colleagues unless it's a meeting. While personal productivity increases, it often has a negative impact on employee mental health.

So more companies are adopting open office, but this also has some problems. For example, if someone catches a cold, the rate of infection in that office is much faster than in a private office. In addition, when working on a work that requires concentration, if another employee calls out and interrupts the work, it takes time to restart and the work efficiency is reduced.

"Tomoko" is an office furniture that solves this problem. Designed by Yuki Abe and Anna Salonen from Helsinki, Finland.


If you wear "Tomoko" and work, you will not be able to see anything extra, so you can concentrate on your work. It seems that the sound is also blocked to some extent. You can also wear "Tomoko" to visually send a message to your colleagues in the office, "Don't talk to me now."


"Tomoko" has a type that can be worn comfortably from the head, and a type that can be installed on a desk to cover the PC and its surroundings.


Working in an open position and using "Tomoko" when working on tasks that require concentration may be a fairly ideal office environment. After that, if measures are taken to prevent the infection of colds, such as by devising the air flow in the office, it will be a perfect working environment (?). I would like Japanese home appliance makers to do their best in this area.