Mutating material: Latex-like textiles resemble skin parasites

Utrecht – Shai Langen, a graduate from the HKU Utrecht School of Arts, created a range of tactile materials resembling organic structures growing on the wearer’s skin.

Langen’s graduate project, Chimera, was inspired by the juxtaposition of synthetic and organic textures. ‘The project plays with the concept of the organic being overgrown with the synthetic and natural processes mutating the skin into fungi-like textures,’ says Langen. 

The materials were created by dripping liquid latex into an emulsion of water and calcium nitrate, resulting in different tactile outcomes depending on the surface tension of the water, the ratio of calcium nitrate to water and the drying process. In the final stage, the dough-like material is applied onto the body, creating flexible, tactile membranes resembling parasite growth.

We profiled a similar project in 2012, Work With Me People, in our Seed section. For more examples of projects investigating the potential for the human skin to be transformed and modified, read our Skin-sensual macrotrend.