Good ideas

Die beiden Ideen, die wir hier vorstellen, haben eins gemeinsam: Sie wollen unser Leben verbessern oder zumindest leichter machen.

Full marks to...

…The King’s Singers, for setting up a charity to bring music and music education to a wide variety of people. The six-member a cappella music group was founded at King’s College, Cambridge, in 1968. In addition to performing in concerts all over the world, The King’s Singers give workshops to amateur choirs, for example at the Schleswig-holstein Music Festival.

To mark their 50th anniversary, the group set up The King’s Singers Global Foundation. “It’s not just through more teaching that we want to do this, but through a wider variety of activities, all of which are designed to bring people together and enrich the world of music and the arts, for both musicians and non-musicians alike,” they write on their website.

In addition to their musical goals, the group says they want to use singing as “a tool to find unity in a world which is more divided than it has been for a long time”. They add that singing is “a language that can be spoken by anyone and we believe that the combination of multiple voices in harmony, to create something more beautiful than the sum of its parts, could be an effective tool in helping people learn to talk to each other again”.

The King’s Singers are all in their 20s and early 30s. Five are from Britain and one is from New Zealand. www.kingssingers.com

Full marks to…

…Dresden Vision of Sydney, Australia, for making prescription glasses more affordable and sustainable. Co-founders Bruce Jeffreys and Jason Mcdermott both wear glasses. And both were frustrated by how expensive and breakable their glasses were. They also believed that the production process was wasteful.

To cut costs, they designed a single frame style in four sizes, available in a number of colours. Because glasses most often break at their metal hinges, they created plastic hinges that are integrated into the front of the frames. This means that arms can be changed without having to use tiny screws or tools. Lenses are also interchangeable.

Dresden says its glasses are made from recycled materials or “eco-friendly nylon”. The company notes that they are produced in Australia rather than being made in a country with lower labour costs. Lenses are made from “precision German optics”.

“We believe glasses are an essential product that should be accessible to everybody, not an expensive fashion item to be cherished,” Jeffreys told Today.design. “So our mission is to democratize this item — make it affordable — so that everybody can maintain their eyesight, be more independent and engage fully with society.” https://dresden.vision/au