'Hair Highway' Collection by Studio Swine

SWINE (Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Explorers) is an Anglo-Japanese design studio making projects around the world. Their work examines the role of design in the modern day, the power of the vernacular and the future of resources in luxury design. Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves of Studio Swine have revisited the process they developed to make optical frames from human hair to create a new range of accessories inspired by the 1930’s Shanghai-deco style. A collection of beautifully polished vessels and small objects such as combs and jewellery boxes, Hair Highway is Studio Swine’s proof that human hair can be put to incredible use. I want to say ‘eww, gross’ – but really it’s just so cool. What do you think?

Click here to watch embedded video.

‘Hair Highway’ is a contemporary take on the ancient Silk Road which transported not only silk but also technologies, aesthetics and ideas between East and West. Investigating the global hair industry in the Shandong province of China, Studio Swine followed the journey of the material from the people who sell their hair through to the hair merchants, markets and factories.

By combining hair with a natural resin, Studio Swine has created a composite material that provides a sustainable alternative to the planet’s diminishing natural resources. It’s aesthetic that evokes the palettes of tortoiseshell and a grain resembling that of polished horn or exotic hardwoods. The project is essentially about finding possibilities and functionality in that which would otherwise be considered ugly.

[Concept & Design by Alexander Groves & Azusa Murakami. Video Directed by Juriaan Booij / Edited by Sally Cooper / Music by Titus Twelve / Production support by Danful Yang & Lily Xu.]