concept
Foundation:
In 1898 in New York, a person named George Lafayette Mason applied for a patent for an "interchangeable electric display apparatus". This device was supposed to be used as an illuminated sign with a distinct feature being that it could dynamically change and show any letter or number. It was basically one of the first segmented displays to be officially described. Everyone knows the looks of 7 segmented displays that became ubiquitous in every electronic appliance but this one predated it, and it consisted of 21 separate segments. Such an excessive number of segments allowed it to produce a seriffed font more common for its time period. 
Modern rethinking:
Nowadays there is no lack of different types of displays that are suitable for various applications and design visions. More pixel density, more colors, and more contrast with every new generation of flat screen panels left behind the times when one would need to adapt the type of information they wanted to show to the abilities of a particular display. Every font type, even the aforementioned segmented fonts can be easily rendered with modern screens without any additional engineering. But at the same time, the abundance of electronics and affordability of manufacturing processes and software made minimalistic and retro-styled displays popular among hobbyists who want to design something outstanding in terms of design and aesthetics.
More than 120 years later Mason's display is seen by many as an archaic curiosity, that predated most of the competitors but failed to be adopted as other designs of segmented display that came after. These days it is unknown and unrecognised. But when some view it as strange or even creepy, others love its unconventional outlines and the resemblance of stained glass windows of gothic cathedrals. Maybe somewhat unpractical this type of display certainly can be used to show text and the outstanding number of segments allows for the creation of various variants of glyphs for letters and numbers and can even display the Cyrillic alphabet. 
While recreating the original design in a smaller size and with the usage of modern materials and manufacturing methods was a pretty easy task we weren't particularly interested in creating a passive device. We realised that this type of display wasn't going to be used the same way as its 7-segment counterparts. Its quirky design and not its ability to print some text will most probably be the main reason to use it. That's why we decided to make it a smart display, a piece that can be used standalone, without any additional parts except the power source. And still, it can be used driven from an MCU or even a PC via USB. It can be chained with multiple copies of itself or as a sole device.
development
This type of device is not typical for our work and we view it as a concept device thus designated it as SC-002. We picked CH32V003 from WCH as our MCU of choice for its cost-effectiveness, capacity for performing existing tasks, and a great community-driven development framework that allows using it to its full potential. Currently, we have created two versions of SC-002 first one is simpler. It uses single-color LEDs that are connected in a charlieplex matrix and are driven by CH32V003 in the SOP-8 package. In this configuration, all pins are used and thus there is no way to combine multiple displays for simultaneous use. The second version uses 21 addressable RGB LEDs and CH32V003 in the QFN package. This provides the ability to have USB/UART/I2C connections at the same time and to chain multiple displays together. 
Shell and translucent diffusor are printed on a standard FDM 3D printer..
Also, a simple battery pack consisting of 2 CR2032 cells was designed as an afterthought for use with a single-colored version.
technical description
MCU: CH32V003F4U6/CH32V003J4M6
Frequency: 48MHz
Flash: 16Kb
RAM: 2Kb
Communications: USB/UART/I2C
Input voltage: 4-6V
Dimetions: 30x23.55x5mm
USB bootloader, onboard button, USB type-C port, pin headers for connecting multiple displays.