London: London-based designers have used human hair - to develop a range of home goods such as jewellery boxes, mirror frames, and combs. London-based Studio Swine crafted the collection by placing strands of hair in a silicon mold which is filled with non-toxic, sustainably harvested resin derived from pine trees.
The result is sheets of plastic that look like amber or exotic hardwoods that can be cut and assembled using traditional tools and techniques. Designers Alex Groves and Azusa Murakami began working with hair while they were researching alternatives to tortoise shell, horn, and slow-growth hardwoods as materials for high-end eyeglasses and furnishings.
"Hair is one natural resource that is actually increasing globally," Murakami said. According to 'wired.com', the responses to the designers' collection have been more "oh, cool" rather than "eww, gross", but some people do raise concerns about the ethics of turning part of the human body into furniture.
"We are used to people selling their time, skills, goods - why not their hair?" Murakami said.
