ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Inventor Creates Periscope Glasses So You Can See Over Tall People At Gigs

Inventor Creates Periscope Glasses So You Can See Over Tall People At Gigs

Finally someone is tackling the real problems

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

If you've ever attended a gig or festival only to find that some 6'7 bloke is stood directly in front of you, then one inventor might just have the solution to all your problems.

Dominic Wilcox has created the 'One Foot Taller' glasses, which are essentially a pair of periscope glasses that allow you to see over the heads of people in front of you. What a time to be alive.

The glasses add one foot (or 30.5cm) on to the wearer's normal eye-level - and I'm honestly torn between hailing them as a genius or a joke, maybe they're both.

The glasses use angled mirrors to allow the wearer to see over the heads of taller people.
Dominic Wilcox

Talking about the inspiration behind his specs, Wilcox said: "I was standing at a gig and turned to see a small woman dancing away but unable to see the band. This gave me the inspiration to design a way for people to see over obstacles such as tall people like me.

"It works well, though dancing with it on might be a challenge!"

That's alright, mate, I'm too cool to dance anyway.

He created the glasses using a sheet of mirrored acrylic with a 45-degree bend, to ensure the smaller mirror can reflect the larger mirror, which faces outwards, giving whoever wears them a better view.

The glasses were designed after Microsoft Surface challenged inventors to come up with 'extraordinary solutions' for 'everyday problems' for an exhibition in London.

And Wilcox certainly met the brief there, didn't he?

Inventor Dominic Wilcox says he came up with the idea after seeing a woman unable to see the band at a gig.
Dominic Wilcox

Speaking to the Mirror about his drive to invent, Wilcox explained: "Some people get their thrills from bungee jumping or scoring a winning goal at Wembley, but I get mine from coming up with creative ideas.

"Creativity is important because the world has many problems and challenges, and we need a lot more people with creative solutions to solve them.

"I think that everyone can become more creative and increase their ability to think up new ideas.

"Creativity is just a particular way of thinking that can be learned and practised like any other skill."

He added: "Some of my ideas develop from observations on human behaviour and I express them through the objects I create.

"I also experiment with materials to try to find surprises that can't be found simply by thinking with a pen or a computer."

Which is all fair enough - having said that, I'm still not 100 per cent sure I fancy rocking a pair of these the next time I go to a gig.

Featured Image Credit: Dominic Wilcox

Topics: Weird