DNA mapping is nifty. We’ve seen genetic code used to create 3D portraits of strangers and permanently store Shakespearean sonnets and Martin Luther King speeches. Now, Dutch design studio Tjep. is bringing custom DNA-mapped furniture into your living room.
Tjep. founder Frank Tjepkema and DutchDNA‘s Eric Wolthuis extract genetic profiles, map the data with 3D imaging, and transform a person’s individual DNA into an equally unique work of art. The project began with the idea of DNA-based jewelry, but when Wolthuis realized how much potential genetic mapping had for design, he extended his ideas to furniture, which he considered a sort of symbolic extension of the self. The first piece of furniture they designed (above) is called the Darwin Table. It’s made from the DNA extracted from a saliva swab of Wolthuis’ daughter, dancer Giulia Wolthuis, and it’s abstract design corresponds with Giulia’s genome.
The exhibition, called Future Nostalgia, will be presented at Ventura Lambrate in Milan later this month.
