Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

A Design Student Found A Hair-Raising Way To Use Barber's Clippings

A Design Student Found A Hair-Raising Way To Use Barber's Clippings
Alice Evans, a Birmingham City University product design student, with her Hair Chair (Jacob King/PA)

And in a hairy turn of events, a budding product designer has created a chair from barbers' off-cuts to get people thinking about what we throw away.Alice Evans came up with the idea of the Hair Chair while meditating on Buddhist teachings that happiness does not come from material possessions and there should be compassion for all living things.


After completing her dissertation on similar themes in February, she then set about designing and creating the chair, made up of 30 4in square patches of human hair stitched together with plant twine. The hair was collected from five barbers in Birmingham and cleaned, forms a bucket seat, supported by leather straps and hangs from a metal frame.

The 23-year-old is about to end her final year studying product design at Birmingham City University. And she said people's reactions of her project had ranged from “wow" to “disgust."

Hair Chair

0
Advanced issues found
PA Wire/PA Images - Jacob King

“I thought, if it is made from us, what relationship does that create?" she said. “Why do people say 'Ugh, that's disgusting' when it is just part of every single human being? It's just hair and when it is on our head we're so attached to it, and then, when it's chopped off, it's disgusting. It's completely normal to use animal products, so cows' skin, leather – I am wearing leather shoes."

Hair Chair

0
Advanced issues found
PA Wire/PA Images - Jacob King

She then added that reactions have been “a lot more positive" than she expected. “There's not that many people who have sat in it – they've touched it and some people run away from it still – but it's fun," she said. "Some people are just like 'Wow, that's amazing' and there's other artists and designers who use human hair as well. I think it's just the conditioning that we've got into – so we just think it's rubbish but it's a resource that could be used. I want to start that conversation as to what things should we be using."

Hair ChairAlice Evans said her creation is aimed at making people think more about sustainability and wastage (Jacob King/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jacob King

Evans explained why she chose to design a chair for the first time by saying that it had evolved from being a symbol of power, such as a monarch's throne, to an everyday item, used across the world. As an item which is used by everyone, she felt it was the perfect way to get people thinking about what is waste and what can be re-used, at a time when global awareness about climate change and sustainability is growing.

“It tells a story about how we live our life, and there's a lot more depth to products, in my opinion," she said. “That's why I decided to make a chair from human hair, to try and encourage a closer relationship to the material world, so we waste less and value what is in our world."

Hair ChairDesigner Alice Evans said one of the drawbacks of her Hair Chair is that it is a bit itchy (Jacob King/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jacob King

Evans said the chair also contained hair from six of her friends, including one man whose back hair was included “because he wanted to be part of it".

“I came to the conclusion human hair could be a symbol of all the different people who go into making products," she said. “Another Buddhist teaching is everything arising upon conditions, everything has a back story to why it's there. So I thought hair tells that story in the best way, because it is literally loads of people."

She said the only downside is that it was “a bit itchy", but she does not mind.

“If I would meditate in the chair, I would be more aware of all these people (who have gone into it)," Evans added. “It plays on your senses."

Hair ChairDesigner Alice Evans used hair from friends as well as barber shop clippings to make her Hair Chair (Jacob King/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jacob King

The chair took about two months to make, collecting bags of hair from barbers, twice a week, and with each patch taking half an hour to create. She has no idea how much hair went into it, because of the different lengths needed.

“The best bits would be a couple of inches long, the longer bits I'd have to chop down," she said. “There was quite a lot of short, stubbly bits that I had to sieve through. So apologies to my housemates for making the bathroom very hairy for the past two months."

It cost Evans over $2,000 USD to make the chair and it is due to be exhibited alongside other graduate design products.

“[After the exhibit] I'm probably just going to take it home and put it with my shrine, in my room, until I know what to do with it," she said. The chair has also already been on display at the university's arts showcase.

Meanwhile, Evans plans to go on to work within the sustainable design industry and continue experimenting with different materials.

More from Trending

Reneé Rapp; Joe Rogan
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Apple Music; Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Men Are Up In Arms After Reneé Rapp Hilariously Admits She Has No Idea Who Joe Rogan Is

In a recent interview with Alex Cooper for the podcast Call Her Daddy, actor, singer, and songwriter Reneé Rapp admitted she didn't know who an extremely popular right-wing figure was.

Maybe it's a generational thing, as Rapp is only 25 years old. The person she didn't know was 58-year-old Joe Rogan.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of JD Vance
Fox News

Vance Blasted After Making Gaslighting Claim About How Tariffs Are Actually Helping 'Average Americans'

Vice President JD Vance was quickly called out after he claimed in a Fox News interview focused on President Donald Trump's tariffs that tariffs will actually lead to "tax relief" for Americans.

Vance spoke as Trump continues to leave countries reeling over his chaotic tariff policies; he just announced, for example, yet another 90-day pause on sweeping tariffs on China. The Chinese government said they hope the move will lead to "positive outcomes" for China and the U.S.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Vladimir Putin
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Contributor/Getty Images

Trump Sparks Concern After Repeatedly Confusing Alaska With Russia Ahead Of Putin Meeting

President Donald Trump turned heads on Monday after he repeatedly claimed he's going to "Russia" on Friday—very openly confusing the country with the state of Alaska, the actual location where he plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a highly anticipated summit.

Trump made the mix-up during a press conference about crime in Washington, D.C., where he has already moved to federalize the police and deploy the National Guard, citing inflated crime statistics that compared D.C. to Baghdad and Brasilia.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hillary Clinton; Pete Hegseth
Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Hillary Offers Chilling Warning After Pete Hegseth Reposts Video Of Pastors Saying Women Shouldn't Vote

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned women around the U.S. about what's to come after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amplified a video about a Christian nationalist church that showed pastors saying that women shouldn't be allowed to vote.

The segment Hegseth aired was a nearly seven-minute CNN investigation into Doug Wilson, cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC).

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of JB Pritzker; Donald Trump
NBC News; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

JB Pritzker Explains Exactly Why Trump Is Pushing His GOP Allies To Redistrict—And He's Spot On

Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker perfectly explained why President Donald Trump is pushing for gerrymandered redistricting in Republican-led states amid pushback from Democrats in Texas.

Redistricting has been all over the news cycle in the days since Texas Democrats fled the state to avoid voting on a new heavily-gerrymandered redistricting map and to deny their GOP colleagues a quorum, the minimum number of lawmakers required to conduct legislative business.

Keep ReadingShow less