Sputniko! (aka Hiromi Ozaki) recently launched a new project, Tranceflora – Amy's Glowing Silk, in an exhibition at Gucci's gallery space in Tokyo. In this project, she explores the intersection of fashion and genetic engineering by working with scientists to create a glowing dress made of genetically-engineered, fluorescent silk.

Photo Courtesy of Gucci

The silk was developed by researchers at NIAS (National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Japan) in 2008, and is made by injecting silkworm eggs with jellyfish or coral DNA.

As a designer interested in design fiction and questioning the impact of (future) technology on human biology, this project pushes the role that biotechnology could play in everyday life, even at the level of love/attraction.

Photo Courtesy of Gucci

While the glowing dress is proof of concept that these kinds of collaborations can actually work, what is more interesting and provocative are her plans to push biotech futures by embedding oxytocin in fabrics. Incorporating this brain-secreted hormone that is thought to enhance trust and romantic feelings between couples, we are faced with the question of what are the sociocultural limits of our technological capabilities. 

Photo Courtesy of Gucci

In typical Sputniko! fashion, she describes her work through the fictional story of a main character, Amy: 

"Amy is dangerously in love. Any girl might invest in a killer dress or two to win over her crush, but Amy is determined to take it to a whole new level…she wants a dress that can control someone's deepest desires, that can make that person want only her." 

_Fabric was a collaboration with hosoo
_Dress and shoes were made by masaya kushino

Photo Courtesy of Gucci

Photo Courtesy of Gucci

Photo Courtesy of Gucci