The project looked at how market economics, consumer culture and bio tech could come together to create a new market for novel toys.

 

By working with the idea of in-vitro cultured sex toys, I explored how cultural trends and market forces can quickly make what could previously seem grottiest into desirable products. I was also intrigued by the opportunities that the technology, when combined with a consumer market, might give rise to. The idea that a toy could be sold as containing DNA from a film star or even a loved one, and what that could mean in terms of the consumers relationship to the product and the spin and marketing possibilities for producers, were fascinating to me.

To express this thinking and research I presented the project from the point of view of a market research and development consultancy, using a powerpoint presentation containing 'market data' and 'user research' illustrating the ideas involved.

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Background and Context

From the original brief set by Tony Dunne:
"The purpose of the project is to explore how design can be used as a medium to draw attention to the social, cultural and ethical implications of ‘cultured meat’. Your design proposals should pose questions rather than provide answers, making complex issues tangible, and therefore debatable."

 

A set of heads from Abyss Creations 'RealDoll'. The RealDoll is arguably the state-of-the-art for life-like human body simulation. Prices begin at around $6500 US, with some models costing over $10,000 US. RealDoll website wikipedia RealDoll page

From this brief I moved to draw inspiration from a time I spent working in an Ann Summers warehouse. I was struck by how quickly the employees including myself acclimatised to the nature of the merchandise we where dealing with. Within a day or two, I was tearing open boxes of 'triple thriller' rubber pants with the same boredom, as any other piece of warehouse stock, that an Art School graduate might have the misfortune to work with, in order to pay the rent.

A disposable vibrating ring, part of The Durex, Play rage. sold in pub vending machines high street shops and well known internet stores.

Although I found the personal and emotional possibilities of the products I was describing intriguing, it was the 'normalising effect' of exposure to an object or experience and what could manifest in wider society because of its business possibilities that became the focus of the project.

 

Thanks to Gemma Layton and Louise Ashcroft for their talented voice work.
Thanks to Michale Burton and Anab Jain for help and support prior to the original presentation.