Edibleskin imagines a future in which fashion becomes merely an extension of the body. From growing and consuming second-skins, to grown materials extending and altering the relationship with materials on the body, to swallowable pills that cause cellulose-material to form on the surface of skin, the work uses biotechnology and biomaterials to explore an alternative future where the relation between living and non-living, things and bodies, is expanded and blurred. These speculative future rituals of self-fashioning ultimately invite critical discussion of the ways in which we shape biotechnology in relation to everyday life.
Ali Schachtschneider is a designer fascinated with the body’s interaction with science and technology which she explores through the growth of materials. Her experimental work is rooted in extensive research. Engaging a variety of materials and technologies, she conducts hands on lab-based research as the guiding force in her process. Ali uses tools from a variety of disciplines including fashion and biology, to create extensions of the body. From living entities to grown materials, these extensions suggest alternative ways of understanding the body in relation to the things which surround it. Her work explores alternate futures, provoking critical thought regarding the impacts of living materials on lifestyle and design. This unconventional approach leads her in blurring the lines between body, material, object and performance. She is part time faculty at Parsons School of Design, and teaches courses at Genspace in New York. Her work has been exhibited at SXStyle/SXSW, Columbia University, Plaguespace, and Parsons School of Design. She has received awards from the Royal Society of the Arts and has spoken at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center and Manufacture New York. The former ballet dancer is a graduate of Parsons the New School for Design, BFA fashion design, 2015.
