Cyber ​​Design: Creating the Future

    In recent years, fashion shows began to look like fantastic films.
    With one difference - this is reality. Now all attention is riveted on the cyborg of the 21st century: supermen who managed to make weakness by force.

    Olga Zapivokhina, who survived craniotomy, closes the display of the Cyborg collection of the Gucci brand in Milan.

    We talked with the odious cyber-designer Nikita Replyansky to find out what is happening with the industry and when everyone will be cyborg.

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    - For the second year in a row, cyborg models come out on the catwalk of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. You, together with the company Motility, created the design of cyber-prostheses, which amazed the fashion-public. Where did the idea come from?

    The idea of ​​self-expression of people with disabilities with the help of high-tech prostheses and other means of rehabilitation captures me for 4 years. I am inspired by the transformation of the body and mind. In “Motorika” we are not trying to just “fix” someone’s body. We think about the life of a person with an entire prosthesis, communication with the environment around him and other people, looking for different approaches to solving functional problems, exploring new possibilities of using wearable technologies, helping our clients to believe in themselves, to become stronger, to achieve their dreams and, of course , we change the attitude of society to the issue of disability.

    Science fiction for me is a source of inspiration and at the same time competition.

    Since 2008, I worked in the video game industry as an artist and gained many useful skills, knowledge, and most importantly the ability to learn. Playing modern games you can learn a lot, you should not refer them only to entertainment. Gamedev is a boiling laboratory of design and research of the international creative community. Therefore, when starting a new project, I always think about how to surprise my professional colleagues working in the digital reality at the same time. It is not easy, there are thousands of strong guys.

    I share the concepts with the team of emergency creative response in Motorika, we find what inspires everyone, and start a new experiment. In public projects, as with Mercedes-Bens Fashion Week, we always set a new bar for ourselves and do what we haven’t done before.

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    At Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, we showed two new directions: a pumped-in, technologically advanced prosthesis with a wi-fi module and a built-in midi keyboard, and a prosthesis-fashion accessory, with the ability to customize jewelry. I wish that when people saw our artificial limbs, people not only did not believe that this was done in Russia, I would like them to think that this is a fantasy that happens before their eyes, in their life.

    - What was the reaction to the models and the prostheses themselves? Were there any fear among visitors who were not used to this?

    I admit that you expect anything from visitors to fashion shows, but not what we saw. The audience literally “stuck around” our models and for a long time could not understand why the prosthesis could not be measured. It seemed to them that they were fashionable robotic gloves, parts of superhero costumes, exquisite accessories, anything, but not artificial limbs. And when they understood that these devices replace hands, they were shocked, asked dozens of questions, asked when “extra” hands would appear for completely healthy people.

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    It turned out that very many people want to become a human augmented, a cyber-man. And not only from functional considerations.

    Such a reaction was a pleasant surprise, both for me and for the engineers. By the way, this is the only company in Russia today that creates such artificial limbs and helps those who need them to get them for free, at the expense of state compensation.

    - How are these prostheses created?

    We had about a month when we decided to participate in the Fashion Futurum project. The project begins with the seeding of ideas. I form a cloud of concepts with which it will be interesting to work. Next, we look for models that want to share our initiative. When the models are approved, we understand what type of prosthesis we will work with. The brainstorming starts on the basis of the initial developments already together with the engineers, we come to a common denominator and start production.

    The digital part of the production is a mix from different programs, serving two tasks: visualizing the design before production and creating a 3D model for 3D printing, which will be ready for subsequent post-processing, assembly and integration of non-printed components. Next, the project begins life in physical reality and we continue to refine it together with the engineers. I was most actively helped with this project: Aleksey Shikov on the design of mechanics, my good friend Alexander Paramonov, the developer of the electronic module, also joined. He is not a member of Motorika, but he takes part in a lot of my projects. And of course, there was a lot of help from the motorists for various applied tasks.

    We make different dentures. I created the design of the main lines. The flow of customers is large, each prosthesis is unique, made by individual sizes.

    Engineers also become designers and make adjustments on the requests and interests of the client. They emphasize the personality of a person, reflect his interests, tastes.

    I continue to develop new work lines and experimental models. I do not understand why a person in whom there is no part of the arm or the entire arm should have one prosthesis. I am convinced that this can be a great way to express yourself. Let's say I adore good sneakers. Comfortable, beautiful, different. Why should a cyborg have one hand? A prosthesis is his “trick”, something that will allow him to display his self. These guys can walk with their heads high, these are strong people who have gone through a lot and they set trends. We have a queue for shooting.

    - If we touch on the practical side, how much is demand for such prostheses in Russia?

    About 100 requests per month now come in, despite the fact that there are 60,000 people in need of prostheses in Russia. And tens of thousands more - in the CIS countries.

    Our potential customers are beginning to understand that prosthetics can be very different. Everyone has their own goals: someone wants a more neutral prosthesis, someone, on the contrary, wants to be the center of attention. Recently, one of our clients admitted that she really became special and is now living a very vibrant life.

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    - On the one hand, many are interested in cyborg, transhumanism, they even want to become. On the other hand, the problem of inadequate attitudes towards people with disabilities remains in society, even if they look like cyborgs, attractive to the modern man, the marvel generation. In your opinion, a world in which cyborg and ordinary people are harmonious in their emotional perception of each other is possible?

    If we talk specifically about prostheses, it is necessary to shape the fashion for wearing prostheses among those who need them, in the first place. And like me, designers, photographers, bloggers, just can help in the formation of a trend.

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    Many do not understand that the functionality for a person who does not have a hand, or its functions are limited, is not the only important factor. It is for these reasons that the hook, which is convenient and familiar to many patients, does not replace what the prosthesis should be - a high-tech functional accessory, aesthetically beautiful, allowing one to self-identify a person.

    A huge number of people who need a prosthesis do not know that their weakness can be made by force, they do not understand that this may be an advantage. Just because there is no established trend. He is abroad, but not in Russia.

    I am well aware of the sense of duality of the disease. I moved oncology at 22 years old, spent a year in the hospital, having spent a good part of my time in a wheelchair. I understood well that either I would die, or the situation that had happened to me would change me, become the springboard of my development, the point of growth. I chose the latter. Made the disease an advantage. Having passed through the disease, I threw all my strength on the development of my own skills in order to change the world in what I do best - to bring the future closer through my image and aesthetics, to adapt the fiction to reality.

    And although I, like anyone, have crises of faith, periods when I think I speak in different languages ​​with society, I do not cease to go towards the goal. We are lagging behind the advanced countries in everything related to cyborgization, transhumanism. But in our hands to change it. And I am sure that the artificial limbs that we do will still play their part in this fantastic saga of transforming a frightened and ignorant society into an open, free world, where to be augmented person means to be normal.

    Nikita's projects: www.behance.net/replyanski , www.instagram.com/n.replyanski

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