There’s something quite magical about an item that changes color when held in your hands – a combination of awe and wonder harking back to science experiments we were all tasked with exploring as children.
If only you could bottle that, and sell it...
Well, now you can. Or rather, The Unseen, a London-based company fusing the worlds of science and design, can. Founded by Lauren Bowker, who refers to herself as a material alchemist, this is a start-up that has captured the simple idea of colors that alter based on user interaction or the environment they’re placed in, and launched it as a limited-edition, luxury accessories collection in UK department store, Selfridges.
There’s a calfskin backpack that shows vivid flushes of color in response to air pressure as the atmosphere brushes across it’s surface, and an Italian alligator-skin shoulder bag with environmentally responsive ink that changes to reflect the different seasons in the UK. It turns black in the winter, red in the spring, blue in the summer and green fading to red in the autumn.
Other items change based on body temperature, touch, wind and sunlight, including a necklace, cuff, scarf, wallet, coin purse, phone case, backpack, and more. Prices range from £35 to £1,750.
The technology is loosely based on the chromic color-change inks first seen with brands like Global Hypercolor in the 1980s and 90s. Says Bowker: “The basis of our technology lies within scientific compounds and material. We concept up scenarios that we want our surfaces to respond to and then code our chemicals to achieve it.” The seasonal shoulder bag, for instance, tracks UV light level, humidity and heat.
More than just being about beauty however, the name for the company actually reflects the fact the products enable the wearer to see “the unseen” around them. “Color and tactile surfaces act as a universal language, which can be used to interpret data. I feel this is a much more understandable medium than the use of facts, figures and numbers. The visual and haptic feedback created through color and surface is a tangible and accessible way to understand what surrounds us,” Bowker explains.
She lives by the show don’t tell mantra – being told we’re surrounded by carbon emissions is one thing, but being shown it by the jacket we wear changing shade to reveal the exact amount of pollution around us can have a much bigger impact, she adds.
The idea for it actually came from a spell in hospital. While studying textiles at the Manchester School of Art, Bowker became unwell and then frustrated at her inability to communicate the feelings or pain that her body was experiencing. She wanted to form a language to help express it, and not just study textiles without purpose so she forced her way into the chemistry department to help realise her concepts. The result was an award-winning, pollution-sensing ink, PdCI2, which could change the color of a jacket from yellow to black.
She then went on to study printed textiles at the Royal College of Art in London, continuing to explore these possibilities between chemistry and clothing. Today, she still leans on that world; finding inspiration in everything from bacteria, molecules, microbes and disease, as well as other less visible notions including ghosts, energy forces and even outer space.
It’s easy to lump The Unseen into the category of wearable technology – seemingly a catchall phrase of recent times for clothing and accessories that do something more than act as protection, adornment or a means of self-identity. But Bowker argues there’s much more to it: “Sure we use technology but then doesn’t Marks and Spencer and Uniqlo, and every other coated surface, polyester or colored cotton? We’re not creating technology to be part of the wearable buzz; we’re creating items that allow us to explore more about our lives and the environment in which we live.”
“We want the world to experience materials that are out of the ordinary, understanding that they are available now and not necessarily just sci-fi futuristic fashion predictions,” she adds.
She also believes there’s real consumer desire out there for something different. “Where luxury is moving is about offering people things that are truly unique to them. They want beautiful clothes first, but they’re also striving for that little bit more now. Whether it’s sustainable, or something they don’t have to wash and iron, or this technology version.”
The Unseen’s earlier work has included a dress in partnership with digital creative studio Holition that reveals different emotions through color by reading EEG data; a gemstone headpiece in collaboration with Swarovski that similarly reads brain activities; and a series of leather sculptures that respond to fluctuations in the air and environment, including wind pressure, humidity, heat and light.
These pieces have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert museum and The Barbican. Bowker and her team, who are aptly based in the vaults below Somerset House, have also acted as consultants in the fields of aeronautical science, healthcare and construction, using their unique compounds to visualise otherwise unseen effects.
Taking such concept work from the lab and reimagining them for the upmarket accessories hall at Selfridges alongside such brands as Alexander Mcqueen, Maison Margiela and Dior however, is no small feat. Indeed, the ability to commercialise and scale is often a barrier for many start-ups experimenting in this science and design space.
Bowker puts her ability to do so down to the guidance and mentorship received from the Selfridges team. “[It allowed] us to commercialise our concepts without losing our magic,” she explains. “All the products were made and produced in the UK by the finest of leather makers; this is something we are very proud of. We see these products as heirlooms, to be handed down through generations.”
Selfridges buying director Sebastian Manes, said: “We’re always looking for the most extraordinary brands and one-of-a-kind experiences for our stores and The Unseen vision and craftsmanship really captured our imagination. Their manipulation of materials and colors is fascinating… We are excited to collaborate with her this season and cannot wait to see our customers’ reaction to The Unseen.”
As for what’s next, 2016 will see The Unseen focused on expanding to the US, with commissions already in place with the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bowker is also stepping on from her exploration of “air” and how it impacts materials, to “water”.
In the meantime, for those interested, she’ll be running a series of alchemy classes at Selfridges in the run up to the holidays where she’ll be teaching the precisions of hand dying a color-change feather.
