Pieces of You: Yi Zhou's Body Memorabilia

Beijing is a transient place. You meet people of all shapes and sizes from around the world and then inevitably say goodbye forever. Why not keep a piece of these special acquaintances without literally amputating your favorite parts and horribly disfiguring your close friends? This this is exactly the service Yi Zhou and her Body Memory project provides.

Yi Zhou is a designer, who after finishing up her studies at St. Martin’s College in the UK returned to her home in Beijing to get involved with the rapidly expanding design scene here. It was during these first couple of months that she developed the idea behind this conceptual mobilized clinic, and has since been featured and exhibited in publications and galleries across the city.

Body Memory draws upon her hypothesis that the human body is capable of remembering through textures, sounds, and shapes, the details of people and things we encounter in our lives. The objects and accessories she creates are meant to act as a detailed visual reproduction of a physical attribute bound in plaster. It is a piece of yourself ready to be distributed to your friends and family. It is quite the cute and chic concept.

You can contact Yi Zhou through email, and she will set you up with an appointment at an appropriate venue. She will arrive acting doctorly, wearing operating room scrubs, a stethoscope, possibly a small flock of nurses, and even one of those fancy business banners to portray that special aura of authenticity.

Start off the pseudo-surgical procedure by filling out a small form of your ailment or essentially what body part it is that you would like copied. She then provides a little consultation about pricing. Almost everything Yi Zhou does is RMB 450, yet larger body parts might cost you a little more. She begins the “surgical” procedure by covering your finger, foot, ear, or bellybutton in alginate, a casting material often used by dentists to create dental impressions. After a few minutes, this material dries up and is covered with a plaster bandage. Once the bandages dry and harden, the mold is removed and ready to be filled with plaster. It takes about a week to create the final product, which she will then deliver to you.

She is really professional and cute about the whole process, treating you like a patient and playing the part of a caregiver doing her best to fix you up. She will cast almost anything including your foot, finger, hand, bellybutton, ear, or even nipple if you really want to get your point across. I’m not sure if Yi Zhou has ever done the rock n roll style genital cast made famous by the band groupie Cynthia Plaster Caster, but cast the right price and anything could happen.

Contact y.zhou@yizhoudesign.com for more info or to set up an appointment.

More stories by this author here.

Photos: Courtesy of Yi Zhou