Fashion house Coperni has collaborated with NASA to debut the world’s lightest bag during Fall-Winter 2024 Paris Fashion Week. The intriguing purse, the “Air Swipe,” reportedly comprises 99 percent air and 1 percent glass.
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The brand has claimed this ethereal bag to be the largest object ever crafted from silica aerogel, a nanomaterial known as the lightest solid on Earth, commonly utilized by NASA for collecting cosmic dust. In the journey to perfection, Coperni and Ioannis Michaloudis, a visual artist and a silica aerogel researcher at the American University of Cyprus, went through fifteen prototypes before finalizing the design. Their efforts were highlighted in a conversation with British Vogue, where the creative minds behind the brand shared insights into the development process.
Sébastien Meyer, Coperni’s co-founder and creative director, described the handbag as a blend of science and poetry. In contrast, CEO and co-founder Arnaud Vaillant likened it to a magical cloud. This sentiment echoes the fascination with silica aerogel’s almost magical qualities, described by George Gould, the R&D director at Aspen Aerogels Inc., who shared his awe with NASA, praising the material’s unique tactile and auditory properties.
Silica aerogel’s significance extends beyond its lightweight and heat-resistant characteristics, having played a critical role in NASA’s 1999 Stardust mission to collect comet samples. The material’s ability to endure temperatures up to 1200°C and pressures up to 4,000 times its weight makes it innovative and remarkably resilient, as the New York Post reported. Despite its delicate appearance, the Air Swipe bag, fashioned in the likeness of Coperni’s signature Swipe design, defies expectations of fragility. The brand assures that the bag is sturdy enough to carry essentials like an iPhone, adding a practical aspect to its futuristic design.
The collaboration with NASA and the development of the Air Swipe bag further established Coperni’s reputation for pioneering innovative designs within the realm of fashion technology. Following their viral moment in 2022 with a live spray-painted dress on Bella Hadid and integrating Boston Dynamics’ robo-dogs in a subsequent show, Coperni continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.
