Video from Hasselblads Victor Magazine - 2007

I don't CARE if you have seen this before...I LIKE it.

First Impressions - Marked

Marked

"The marked series is an investigation into the residue left behind by jewellery, the physical presence and sensations which resonate on the skin after a piece has been removed. This project uses skin as a self-referential mechanism and demonstrates how surfaces can be gently manipulated to respond to ephemeral embellishments.  The premise behind the marked series is the ability of skin to transmute into temporary articles of jewellery, in addition to the more common role as a site for adornment."  

As seen on Klimt02

Kim Joon

Cradle Song - Vivienne Westwood - 2009

Korean artist Kim Joon explores the human skin as an extension of canvas and tattoos as a manifestation of human desire.  Using animation photography, Joon creates three-dimensional human figures over which he meticulously grafts human, animal and artifically-created skin. These figures are then covered in bright patterns of "tattoos" made from logos of designer labels and traditional Asian imagery. His work explores the idea of the tattoo -- a major taboo in Korea -- as an expression of secret desires and hidden pain.

Cradle Song -Montblanc, 2009

 

Cradle Song - Ferragamo, 2009

Tiffany Parbs - Cosmetic

Tiffany Parbs work looks to broaden and augment definitions of jewellery, and to challenge and extend the medium in the public arena. Parbs is a jeweller who works in close contact with the body, her series 'Cosmetic' explores cosmetic surgery through ephemeral gently manipulated changes to the skin.

Tiffany Parbs featuring extension

Links to Parb’s work: NGV The Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award 2006, klimt02, craft victoria

Hannah Perry - Hair Artist and Future Visionary

 

Hannah Perry's first hair collection is unnamed at present but nevertheless is an evocative response to hair which she sees as a beautiful thing that can be styled, sculpted, coloured etc into just about anything and can change the way someone looks and feels in an instance.  Based around her research into trichophobia, the fear of hair, her observations of why others respond to hair once it has been removed from the body has been translated in a number of ways.  These images are just part of a collection of ideas, so it will be interesting to see what Hannah will do next!

The next new thing

After reviewing Michael Burton's exhaustive vision of the future, I have to post his Lecture at the Paris Nanoart Conference in 2009.  The links to cosmetic application may not be immediately apparent, but it raises questions about aesthetic preference that we will all have to consider in the near future, whether we like it or not since Nanotechnologies are already in use in the cosmetics industry. Nonetheless, nanotechnology will become the next new thing in beauty products and skincare and we need to consider the capacity of nanotech to improve cosmetic application and and its effect on design on the body in the future.

Examples of new nanotechnology applications in personal care products include: 

L’Oreal (which ranks No. 6 in nanotechnology patent holders in the U.S.) has used polymer nanocapsules to deliver active ingredients, e.g. retinol or Vitamin A, into the deeper layers of skin. In 1998 the company unveiled Plentitude Revitalift, an anti-wrinkle cream using nanoparticles.  

Procter & Gamble’s Olay brand was designed with nanoemulsion technology in 2005.

Other companies using nanotech in their skin products as of 2005 include: Mary Kay and Clinique from Lauder; Neutrogena, from Johnson & Johnson; Avon; and the Estee Lauder brand. 

Nanotopia

In an attempt to consider the future of design development through cosmetic construction of the face and body, it is always exciting to find work at the cutting edge of science and technology. Nanotopia, is such a work, and in doing so it suggests alternative ideologies by presenting a future vision for people at the extremities of the social classes.  Michael Burton's  project references how people currently use their bodies as a last resort, to sell their hair, blood and kidneys. Nanotopia then envisions a future where the poorest utilise new possibilities of fusing nanotechnology and the body as real-estate. In reaction to this use of the body, the film also visualises the changes in bodily aesthetics within the upper classes.  Burton's vision is important in considering the future of what we desire cosmetic application to be.  Is this such a big leap from the current fashionisation of body modification such as cosmetic surgery, subdermal implants, piercing, scarification and tattooing?

Recently, in presenting the premise of Nanotopia, my observation of the reaction of others to Burton's proposition for the future has been one of shock, disbelief  and barely hidden disgust. Yet further discussions of what they deem acceptable today, aesthetically and morally, in comparison with 10-15 years ago only serves to suggest that we are more prepared for this vision of the future than we think.

Video clip: nanotopia