New face mask anyone? Japanese man creates lifelike replicas of human faces for £700… but they won’t protect you from Covid-19
- Shuhei Okawara, from Tokyo, is creating lifelike replica masks of people’s faces
- The hyper-real coverings cost £700 apiece, but won’t protect users from Covid
- The creator has copied his own face and others chosen from 100 applications
Face masks really caught on this year – but it’s unclear if this particular variety will.
A Japanese mask-maker has created hyper-real coverings costing £700 apiece.
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Because they have nose holes, they won’t protect against coronavirus, but they will lend you the exact appearance of yourself, frozen in time, or whoever else you may wish to look like.
Shuhei Okawara, from Tokyo, is selling hyper-realistic masks of people’s faces for £700 apiece
Mr Okawara copied his own face and then others’, choosing them from 100 photo applications
Shuhei Okawara, from Tokyo, makes the masks with a 3D printer.
He copied his own face and chose others from more than 100 photo applications, paying the successful ones £300 for their image.
The artist said he will pay royalties to anyone whose face proves popular.
He said: ‘Mask shops in Venice probably do not buy or sell faces. But that is something that’s likely to happen in fantasy stories.
‘I thought it would be fun to actually do that.’
The masks will go on sale early next year at his Tokyo shop, Kamenya Omote, whose products are popular as accessories for parties and theatrical performance
The masks will go on sale early next year at his Tokyo shop, Kamenya Omote, whose products are popular as accessories for parties and theatrical performance.
Initial inquiries suggest demand for the masks will be strong, Okawara said.
‘As is often the case with the customers of my shop, there are not so many people who buy (face masks) for specific purposes. Most see them as art pieces,’ Okawara said.
He plans to gradually add new faces, including some from overseas, to the lineup.