OurOwnsKIN is a consultancy re-thinking design for the body.
We are innovation designers connecting with communities of medical, material and apparel specialists on collaborative design projects. We translate anatomical and emotional perspectives of the body into design for items we wear - from footwear to fashion apparel. We run design thinking workshops with collaborators and wearers, evoking insights to create solutions for critical design and future manufacturing.
The human body is our constant. Perhaps it is time to look inwards instead of out?
Perspectives of the human body in contemporary culture are shifting. Advancements in technologies are allowing us to rethink the possibilities of the corporeal by providing opportunities to augment, grow, track, and sense the body.
As a result, a renewed, more conscious, interest in this subject is occurring within design impacting on the development of new materials, and influencing the construction and design of things.
As a result, a renewed, more conscious, interest in this subject is occurring within design impacting on the development of new materials, and influencing the construction and design of things.
The consultancy combines two existing practices of designer, Liz Ciokajlo and artist, Rhian Solomon.
Liz Ciokajlo is a concept development footwear designer and researcher, focusing on how material innovation and emerging making processes can impact design constructions and form. Since 2013 she has worked as a freelance consultant at footwear companies such as C&J Clarks International. She has initiated independent collaborative projects that investigate and develop design concepts surrounding the application of bio renewable materials and alternative making processes for future manufacturing. Collaborative projects she has worked on have been supported by UAL SEED fund, Arts Council England and British Council
Rhian Solomon is an artist and design facilitator whose practice interrogates contemporary perspectives of the human body. Brokering interactions between wearers, designers and medical communities, she creates projects that conceptually blur boundaries between the interfaces of skin and cloth, the body and dress. Rhian’s practice has been commissioned by and presented at The Wellcome Trust, Arts Council, The British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons, NIKE Design Kitchen, Leverhulme Trust and The Arts and Humanities Research Council. She has curated events, exhibitions and texts that emphasize the role of the human body in contemporary design.
By understanding the materiality of our bodies and our relationship to this entity, perhaps we can design better for it?