Jesse Perez

SARIWA

What started as a deep dive into the causes and effects of high levels of pollution in Chicago –and developing a way to deal with it – pivoted when the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was officially a world health pandemic.

Now, through extensive research and iteration, I’ve developed, “SARIWA” (sa-ri-wa), a mask made to be a part of our everyday lives. Both reusable and customizable, “SARIWA” is a project aimed to answer the question, What if this pandemic became our everyday?

With a mask designed for daily use, sustainability, and with consciousness of form, “SARIWA” is the culmination of my research, which began as a mask to mitigate the negative health effects of pollution and has transformed into an everyday mask to deal with airborne pandemics.