Wear a smile: French firm prints friendly faces on masks

As more people wear face masks in public due to the coronavirus pandemic, smiles are disappearing from our lives, a lack a French firm aims to address by printing them on the masks it sells.

Tcheezebox based near Lyon in eastern France is targeting companies which want to “humanise their relations” with customers by having their employees wear a smile.

“We launched this at the beginning of the lockdowns and companies weren’t very receptive but now they have begun to realise that we must live with masks and there is more demand,” said Ludovic Bonhomme, the company’s cofounder.

He said the washable masks appeared to have the desired side effect. “I have gone out shopping with them and people smiled,” said Bonhomme.