Designist Dream

I came across these products separately, but together I think they pose some interesting questions about designing the body and for the body. Each work below reflects layers of meaning in the recreation of the body into a particular medium. Each has something to say, perhaps, beyond, hey nice bod.

Take these three tee-shirts by Israeli design student Irit Lanciano. The idea is simple: the human body has receptacles and containers - hands, stomachs, breasts - and manufactured products serve as receptacles and containers. What happens when the two meet? When what covers your body serves the same purpose with the addition of a newly attached appendage. Where does the human body begin - by its definition and purpose - and the manufactured ‘body’ begin?

Or how about these beautiful leather shoulder bag by Riva. Called the Torso for Design by Riva, it’s a slender and elegantly shaped lithe fashion accessory that comes in an amazing array of colors. (The leather textures are quite sumptuous too.) The detailed stitching and layering of materials along the top edge - what makes the rectangular shape almost hourglass - recalls the curves of a (woman’s) body her hips or her chest. Either way, this small open-hole detail elevates an everyday shoulder bag from merely beautiful to somehow sensual.

Finally, these leotard-clad dancers are by Israeli ceramic artist Meira Una. Despite the impression of flexibility and movement they give, they’re actually frozen in their poses. As vases, the extensions of their body - what actually moves and breathes beyond the ceramic case - are the flowers, plants or leaves that you put in them. An interesting take on what’s natural, alive, (im)material and eternal.