What Mask Is Bjork Wearing?

Together, a scientist and a designer enter a lab…no, it is not the beginning of a joke. This is actually a new phenomenon taking place in the modern world of design, which recognizes scientists among the unique set of tools that designers have when looking at complex problems and searching for new solutions. In a world that is constantly changing and which faces extreme conditions, whether in wars, ecological disasters or unexpected scenarios such as the Corona pandemic, designers and artists play an important role in shaping the society of the future and they have a great responsibility in determining how mankind will deal with such scenarios.

One of the leading figures to promote this dialogue in the field of design is the Architect and Designer, Professor Neri Oxman, an ex-Israeli researcher in the Media Lab at MIT. Oxman examines complex biological structures in her lab and follows them in order to create new materials that will change the way we invent and construct structures in the future.

Prominent among her works in the last few years, are a series of masks made of a human tissue that were engineered and printed in a three dimensional printer. This work becomes extremely relevant during a time when we are requested to wear masks whenever entering public spaces. It involves growing a peel or protective layer that quickly becomes, as well, a mean of self-expression.

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These works of Oxman were presented in the exhibition, "Broken Nature" that closed a month ago in Milan. A lecture by Neri Oxman about her exhibited work can be watched here.

Roee Bigger
Course lecturer, "Initiative and Innovation Using Design Thinking".