Picsima Snugs

The world of music consumption is changing but the desire for hi fidelity sound still remains. Pre the Smartphone revolution sophisticated music lovers would spend large sums of money to make sure they had the best signal to noise (Decibel) ratio from their record deck and LPs. Move into the 21st Century and this desire for hi fidelity sound is now provided by ear phones and ear plugs. Clearly the best way to improve signal to noise is to eliminate noise, and this is where the need and desire for custom fit ear plugs arrives.

Currently the market is served by on line retailers who provide their consumers with 'ear putty' which they send back to the supplier to be scanned to create a mould for making silicone rubber ear plugs, which is then sent back through the post to the consumer.

Project Picsima Snugs is designed to 'disrupt' this business model by turning the manufacture of custom ear plugs into a consumer facing impulse purchase opportunity. This will be achieved by combining digital scanning with Fripp Design Limited's early stage innovation in 3D Printing platinum (medical grade) silicones directly, a project which received seed funding from the Technology Strategy Board in 2013.

Snugs Earphones have already received seed funding to prove the concept of digitally scanning consumers, at the point of sale, however Snugs still has to have the ear plugs manufactured, off site, by the moulding process. This project is all about closing the loop and allowing retailers to 3D Print silicone ear plugs on demand and in real time.