‘overade’ is a foldable urban bike helmet

‘overade’ is a foldable unisex helmet, designed by patrick jouffret of french design studio agency 360 in collaboration with engineer philippe arrouart. the device provides as much protection as a standard bicycle helmet but folds up to a compact, easily transportable size when not in use. small enough to slip into a purse or backpack, the design aims to address the low percentage of urban bicyclists who utilize helmets. first prototyped in 2010, ‘overade’ is expected to enter commercial production within 2012.

you might also be interested in the ‘hövding‘ automatically inflating airbag helmet, first covered by designboom, which likewise proposes a design solution to the problem of low rates of bike helmet usage.

full view of the helmet extended, red

side view of the helmet collapsed, black

back view of helmet, red

additional view of helmet folded, black

paper model

prototype pieces