Led by alchemist Lauren Bowker, THEUNSEEN is a product development studio and lab which fuses science with art, design and performance to create extraordinary one-off products. Their team consists of chemists, engineers, textile designers and strategists, and together they have created extraordinary commissions for clients including Browns, Liberty of London and Swarovski. This project marks their first foray into the world of hair, with the video launching at the BFC Space at London Fashion Week, in collaboration with Storm Models. THEUNSEEN explain that their decision to launch during this high-profile fashion event is designed “to raise awareness around creativity in science, in particular to encourage young females (our target audience) into science and engineering”.

The colour change in the dye is triggered by temperature fluctuations, such as weather or body heat. THEUNSEEN are now in the process of developing a permanent dye and continue their work to create different colour combinations, “for example, blue outdoors and blonde indoors, and a black to red dye which changes colour as the user warms up to highlight emotion or blushing, through the hair”. With semi-permanent hair dye becoming increasingly popular because of its scope for commitment-free hair colour, this radical dye prototype takes this concept one step further, promising the wearer an instant reinvention of their look time and time again.