New Hair Products

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French designer thinks he’s found the ultimate sustainable material: Human hair. In his project, “The Metabolic Factory,” Thomas Vailly mixes glycerine and sodium sulphite with hair to create a leather-like material that he has fashioned into cups, lamps, mirror frames, and a jug.

Mmmmmm hairy.

“The cult of youth and beauty has us firmly in its grip. Botox, facelifts, implants, dental whiteners: no procedure is too costly or invasive in our insatiable quest for eternal life and aesthetic perfection. This obsession goes further than our bodies. We also demand that the objects we surround ourselves with are every bit as polished and flawless as we are. Yet death and decay are a part of life. And so, they should also be part of design.”The designer explains his idea on his website.

“I invite us to reflect on the natural process of deterioration. Just as the body will decompose, so materials made from the body will also do so. My Vanitas acts as a modern mirror of our own mortality and imperfection, offering not only a daily glimpse of the distasteful truth behind our carefully constructed facades, but also realistic options for the creation of new materials.” 

Aside from the obvious grossness of drinking out of a cup made of hair, does anyone really want to be reminded of our own mortality and imperfection every time we take a drink or turn on the lights? 

And we’ll go one step further and suggest that most of us want the materials out of which our every day objects are made should last a while. Yes, it would be nice if those materials could be sustainable and biodegradable, but suggesting that decay should be part of the design of a cup seems a tad... French.