Microscopic handbag sells for $63,000
Miniaturization has been a pursuit of engineers and designers for decades. The trend to manufacture ever smaller products and devices has seen pocket-sized computers, mobile phones and motorbikes the size of a backpack. The latest thing to be downsized is a miniature handbag that is so small it can only be seen with the aid of a microscope. The New York-based art collective MSCHF has created a microscopic Louis Vuitton-inspired handbag. The makers say their creation is "smaller than a grain of sea salt and narrow enough to pass through the eye of a needle". It measures 657 by 222 by 700 micrometres. It has also just been sold for $63,750 at an online auction.
The neon-green miniature was made using a high-tech manufacturing technique called two-photon polymerization. This technology uses 3D printers to make mechanical biotech components and devices like microfilters and micropumps. MSCHF utilized the technology to see how small they could make a handbag. Chief creative officer Kevin Wiesner told the New York Times that he had not asked Louis Vuitton for permission to use its logo on the handbag. He said: "We are big in the 'ask for forgiveness, not permission' school of thought." He added: "I think the bag is a funny object because it derives from something rigorously functional, but it has basically become jewellery."
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miniaturization / engineers / designers / decades / backpack / microscope / handbag / 3D printer / biotech / permission / logo / forgiveness / functional / funny / jewellery
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Discussion
1) What do you think of miniaturization?
2) How important are engineers?
3) Which of the things you use are smaller now than they were in the past?
4) Would you like smartphones to be made smaller?
5) How useful is a miniature handbag?
6) Why would someone pay $63,000 for the miniature handbag?
7) What do you think of expensive brands?
8) What kinds of bags do you like?
