London – At this year’s Central Saint Martins degree show, product designer Taeheon Kim presented Croono, a modular make up brush dedicated to men.
Tapping into the New Masculinity mindset, the project aims to encourage men to comfortably participate in a daily make-up routine by providing an alternative to traditionally female-oriented beauty tools. The Croono set features four optional heads, each designed for a different use, and is presented in an oak box.
‘The world is realising that an orthodox definition of masculinity places restrictions and limitations on everyone’s identity and men – more and more – wish to not be defined by those limitations,’ explains Taeheon Kim. ‘Yet, most designers have been only taking an aesthetic approach to the masculinity that is asserted through objects. I wanted to redesign the masculinity of the object by addressing the experience of the product and its use.’
As men become more comfortable exploring cosmetics, brands have the opportunity to develop a new generation of grooming products that support genderless beauty.