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Biojewellery

Biojewellery is a design project featured in the exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA, February – May 2008). The work resulted from a project funded under the Partnership for Public Engagement stream of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC ref: GR/T26511/01).

Biojewellery draws upon an archive of artefacts and design documentation related to the EPSRC project in which cells were donated by couples, cultured as bone tissue at Guys Hospital, London, and then used in the design of rings for the couples. An aim of the original project and subsequent outcomes, exemplified by Biojewellery, is to provoke public discussion about bioengineering - particularly regarding the effect of new technologies on everyday products and practices. Project outcomes are exhibited and published in various configurations and the Biojewellery material displayed at MoMA included a ring made from silver and bone, and a set of contextual materials including a ceramic scaffold on which cells were cultured. The exhibition was curated by Paola Antonelli and had extensive presence in international media and in the cultural sector. An accompanying book published by MoMA features Biojewellery.

Following EPSRC evaluation in 2006 where the project was rated “excellent”, Biojewellery features regularly in international exhibitions, design publications and public events, of which the MoMA exhibition is indicative. In this respect the project is an internationally esteemed example of practice-based design research in the field of speculative design. Appearances include: 'What if' (Dublin: 2009); Signs of Change (Perth: 2010); Nano Supermarket (ongoing, touring Europe: initiated 2010); The Future That Never Was (Hasselt: 2011); 'What if' (Beijing: 2011); and, Crossovers at the Design Terminál, (Budapest: 2013). Biojewellery is also featured in Creative Island II; Thinking: Objects; and Neoplasmatic Design. Exhibition and text materials are evidenced in the portfolio.