The Coronavirus pandemic has called on us to come together and lend a helping hand in making sure that we overcome the pandemic. In different ways many people have been carrying out acts of kindness to those affected by the virus, be it frontline workers or communities in need.
Durban University of Technology (DUT) Interior Design lecturer, Michelle Reynolds has been doing her bid to offer relief to those affected by this virus. Alongside her husband, Jimmy Reynolds, they joined a global community of makers and through 3D printing, prototyping and manufacturing, they made visor masks to donate to healthcare workers as an interim measure before factories began production and imports reached the country.
“We managed to supply 250 workers with this defence. The visor masks were collected from our home daily, and came with many encouraging photographs, letters and messages from Doctors which kept morale high and us committed to supplying as many first responders as we could,” said Reynolds.
DUT’s Department of Visual Communication Design with the permission of the Faculty of Arts’ Executive Dean, Dr René Smith, donated sheets of overhead projector film for the visor fronts.
When the filament to make the visor frames ran out, Reynolds’ colleague from Jewellery Design and Manufacture, Nick Rose donated all his personal filament to ensure that production never stopped.
Reynolds and her husband also set up a workshop from their garage where they assisted doctors from King George Hospital in prototyping an intubation box on their Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) machine.
The purpose of the box was to keep doctors and other patients safe while intubating patients infected with Covid-19.
More recently they have been involved in a clean-up campaign of a vacant land in their neighbourhood and have transformed it into a community bike park, which the community has named the Beachwood Bike Park.
“The park has brought our children and community together – riding bicycles, building dirt ramps, gardening, and really talking. It’s been incredible,” concluded Reynolds.
You can follow Beachwood Bike Park’s process on Instagram: @beachwaybikepark
Pictured: DUT Interior Design’s Michelle Reynolds.
Andile Dube
