Cool Hunting

Borrowed a stapler? Typing a personal email? Filing your nails from inside your office? Of course, you don't want gawkers watching your every move. As office space becomes tighter, we're crammed in closer quarters without an ounce of privacy. But Lumisty gives us some respite from the panopticon gaze of our fellow workers.

The folks at Glass Film Enterprises have developed a glass pane that is only completely transparent when the viewer looks at it head-on. As people walk past the glass, they see a fogged, blurred opaque surface. As they approach a 90-degree angle, the glass becomes much more transparent. The effect is such that only people standing head-on to the glass can see through it. Sure, they can gawk, but not without giving themselves away. The passing wayfaring officeworkers can't get more than a glimpse of what you're doing inside behind the Lumisty pane.

It's hard to explain the full effect, so check out the website which does a decent job of giving a visual demonstration.

Applications are varied: conference rooms, banks, hotels, anywhere where a degree of privacy is warranted.

by Jacob Resneck