A 28-year-old ‘nerd’ in Baltimore invented a new type of mask, and tapped into the strangeness of this 2020 holiday season

Narwhals are social creatures.

The whales with spiraled tusks jutting from their heads have been known to live in small groups that, at times, come together to form large pods.

In that way, they are not unlike humans during the holidays.

That alone would have made the name Narwall Mask fitting for the product Alex Rattray invented and publicly launched this week. When the Baltimore resident first started creating the full-face mask based on snorkeling gear, he held hopes it would bring people together during a pandemic that was forcing them apart.