Pure human - Embodied luxury
Intersection between biology and luxury
“How will advances in tissue engineering technology redefine today’s concept of luxury?”
Tissue engineering technologies grow more sophisticated each day, thus the lack of protection regarding biological patent law allowing bioengineering companies to obtain ‘raw’ materials from surgical patients without their consent. These materials are then processed into products, copyrighted by the manufacturing company and sold worldwide for huge profits.
Furthermore, all existing legislation dealing with biotechnology today is united under the Human Tissue Act, which only addresses the handling of bodily materials for medical purposes. The act does not regulate the use of biotechnology for commercial purposes, which is currently attracting the attention of the luxury industry.
The primary goal of ‘Pure Human’ is to address shortcomings concerning the protection of biological information and move the debate forward by using current legal structures. The final outcome consists of a range of speculative commercial leather products cultivated from cells extracted from Alexander McQueen hair labels that redefine the production system for luxury goods as we know it.