WOULD YOU WEAR A HUMAN SKIN JACKET?

Yes, that's right, I've spoken to the Designer who is currently creating the world's first human skin jacket and bag. Tina Gorjanc has just her MA in Fashion and Textile Design and is hoping to push fashion forward. The media have been going crazy over the ethics and values of this project!

For those of you who may not have heard of this project, Alexander McQueen's DNA is being used to create human leather. I know this may sound insane but Gorjanc does have an explanation for her work so I decided to interview her!

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What's your key inspiration for the McQueen skin garments/accessories?

In my second year of the master course I became interested in the ethics behind biotechnologies and started researching medical cases that dealt with those issues. The case of Henrietta Lacks was one of the first cases that dealt with the “theft” of genetic information. It fascinated me how much we can still relate to that story in our current time as there were not much improvement done to change the exploitation of bodily materials.

That kind of exploitation first happened in the medical field in the 1950 (as mentioned the Henrietta Lacks case) and later in the case of John Moore, where doctors extracted biological material from patients and ended up copyrighted and use the material for product developments (cures). However, the patients never gave their consent for it and had no benefits.

Today, the luxury industry is investing in biotechnologies and I find it fascinating the intersection of those fields. But the source of some of the products that are being developed come from 'leftovers' from surgical patients. As the patient is not expected to keep those kind of materials, they belong to the institution that was executing the procedure on the patients. Those materials are than sold to bioengineering companies as a source of stem cells. And if those companies are collaborating with a luxury brand, the cells are produced into products and copyrighted by the manufacturing company.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

I was always inspired by the human body and all its potential, which is probably one of the main reasons why I did my BA in Fashion and Textile Design. However, when I believe that my enrolment in the MA Material Futures course really shaped my design direction. The course inspired me to undertake the critical approach of design and allowed me to mix my expertise with different mediums and based my work on research.

How do you feel about your work at the moment?

I have been really blessed with all the media and press that my work has gotten and I feel really lucky that they are helping me spread the issue I have been trying to rise. However, I feel sometimes the real intention of the project gets misunderstood. I am aware that this is probably due to the complexity of information and the novelty of this emerging technology, which is why I try to make sure the project receives the attention for the right reasons. Furthermore, I am really pleased by the amount of people that gave a bigger thought to the exposed issue which consequently led to really interesting and informative conversations.

Are you working with any photographers or bloggers closely at the moment?

I usually I work with several different photographers, depending on what aspect of the project I want to showcase. I also do a bit of photography myself, but this is mainly more to document the work in progress or exhibitions as I don’t specialize in it. Regarding bloggers, I had never had the experience to closely work with one before this!

Do you plan to continue these kind of garments/accessories with human DNA in the future?

I am not sure that I will focus on just on this particular application of the technology. I am passionate about research and really interested in speculating future application of developing technologies. This is why I believe that my future work will still revolves around similar subjects. I am also thinking of expanding the project, which will allow me to more in depth discover what I have already touched upon.