3D print mask for Björk

Stratasys, the 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company, today unveiled a 3D printed mask in collaboration with designer Neri Oxman and members of her team at The Mediated Matter Group.

Designed and customized for Icelandic singer-songwriter, Björk, as part of a collaboration with Stratasys, the mask was unveiled on-stage in a performance at the Tokyo Miraikan Museum this week, in front of a specially invited audience. Inspired by Björk’s most recent album, Vulnicura, Oxman and her team used 3D scans of Björk’s face to create digital interpretations of her bone and tissue structure, with the customized design brought to life with Stratasys’ unique full-colour, multi-material 3D printing technology.



Björk wore the 3D printed mask during the opening performance of the Tokyo leg of her “Björk Digital” event series, a new virtual reality project from the musician running from June 29 to July 18, 2016. The pioneering event marks a world first, as the first-ever event to be broadcast live via 360-degree virtual reality streaming. With a clear focus on technological innovation, Björk performed the single ‘Quicksand’ from her latest album to a backdrop of high-resolution images of the earth, along with an impressive sequence of light projections mapped onto the 3D printed mask. “I am so incredibly blown away by Neri Oxman’s work and excited to finally work with her,” says Björk. “She is a true pioneer in capturing the biological with 3D printing in such a refined and profound way. It’s been a real joy to get to know her!”



Entitled Rottlace, a variation of the Icelandic term for “skinless”, the 3D printed mask reflects the complex human musculoskeletal system, based on Björk’s own facial structure. Using Stratasys multi-material 3D printing, Oxman and Mediated Matter were able to mimic the elaborate combinations of contrasting materials found in the face, such as the soft tissue, muscle and rigid bone structure – all within a single print. According to Oxman, the unique capabilities of this technology to recreate complex geometries with varied material properties allowed the mask to retain a unique flexibility and freedom of movement that would be integral to Björk’s performance.



“Inspired by their biological counterpart and conceived as ‘muscle textiles’, the mask is a bundled, multi-material structure, providing formal and structural integrity, as well as movement to the face and neck,” explains Oxman. She also believes that that such developments in high resolution 3D printing will inspire designers to rethink the design and production of textile goods made with fibres. “Multi-material 3D printing enables the production of elaborate combinations of graded properties, distributed over geometrically complex structures within a single object. With Rottlace, we designed the mask as a synthetic ‘whole without parts’.”

3D mask for Björk Digital
Design: Neri Oxman
Year: 2016