Iona Inglesby has launched a company that converts DNA data into unique graphic prints and patterned textiles. Inglesby's Dot One takes its name from the 0.1% of each person's DNA that differs from that of other human beings. Apparently we share 50% of our genetic makeup with bananas, 80% with orangutans, and 99.9% with all eight billion humans on earth. So this narrow sliver of our deoxyribonucleic acid is all that marks us out as different. Customers take a cheek-swab sample with a home kit, which is then sent on to a laboratory where their unique DNA profile is extracted. Dot One then applies a bespoke algorithm to the DNA data that generates a unique pattern, which can be turned into unique prints or hand-woven textiles by master weaver Helen Foot, who uses the highest quality lambswool. The patterns vary in colour, featuring different configurations of solid stripes and chequerboard prints.
Iona Inglesby has launched a company that converts DNA data into unique graphic prints and patterned textiles
Inglesby came up with the idea for the business while working on a project called Dreamweaver at the Royal College of Art, which saw the designer use her relatives' DNA data to create a family tartan. After visitors to the graduate show requested their own tartans, Inglesby decided the idea had legs, so founded Dot One. She said of the process: “We assign a particular colour to every possible value in the range of genetic dataWhen we look at a DNA profile then whatever genetic data is in that sample the corresponding colours appear. We are looking at 23 points on the chromosomes with two values at each point, one from the mother and one from the father. The design is a repeat of this, as it is a lot easier to notice patterns of inheritance and similarities when you visualise the data in this way."
Dot One
Dot One also offers family tree booklets that include graphic representations of the ways genes are shared between generations. The designer hopes the prints and textiles will offer owners a more accessible and visually-led understanding of genetics. Inglesby added: “The more I researched about genetics and this field of science the more I felt excited about how amazing our DNA is and I just wanted everyone else to get excited about it too. It seemed the perfect way to communicate information using design as a way people could relate to it. By taking DNA profiling out of the lab and into the consumer environment, it is a fantastic way to stimulate conversation around genetics and decoding the language our cells are created with. We wanted to create a whole new customer experience around buying products; receiving a DNA kit in the post isn't usually part of the online buying process. The client becomes a crucial part of the product journey, becoming the designer through using their own genetic code.”
Dot One takes its name from the 0.1% of each person's DNA that differs from that of other human beings
Dot One is one of a raft of startups helping people to better understand their bodies, such as 23andme, which was the first to popularise direct-to-consumer DNA testing, back in 2006. Many technology companies are beginning to make breakthroughs, creating products that help the general public decode the language that their cells are built with. In related news, customisable fashion company Print All Over Me has also used unusual data to create unique textiles this year, creating an online app that transformed mouse movements and Google search data into patterns. Cardiac radiographer and designer Brooke Roberts has also used digital knitting technology to create clothes with patterns based on MRI brain scans and medical imagery.
