In collaboration with Telekom Fashion Fusion.
For the inaugural episode of the SLEEK podcast, Senior Writer Angela Waters sat down with three of the first generation of augmented reality (AR) face filter makers who are shaping the way people see themselves digitally. Johanna Jaskowska, Assaf Reeb and Andy Picci are three artists that came to the medium from different backgrounds, but all find themselves part of a small, but growing, community of creators who have been approved for Instagram’s beta test, which allows them to create custom face filters before the platform is opened to the public. With the Spark AR tool they create the surreal facemasks we all apply to our selfies, exchanging tricks and tips with each other in the Spark AR Facebook group. Fresh from Berlin’s Fashion Tech Conference, listen to their thoughts on how filters are changing our perceptions of beauty, where the future is for digital fashion is headed and what sustainability means online.
Johanna Jaskowska
@johwska is a digital artist in Berlin who created first viral face filter, Beauty3000. Together with the digital fashion pioneers The Fabricant and Dapper Labs she created the world’s first piece of digital couture. “Iridescence“ sold for $9,500 in an auction at the Ethereal Summit in New York. Jaskowska is interested in merging the body with technologies in a highly fashionable aesthetic while questioning beauty in a digital context.
Andy Picci
@andypicci is a digital artist based in Paris. He is the creator of the popular Instagram AR Filters Behind the Mask, Diving Content, and Self-Centred. Picci uses Instagram not only as a gallery to showcase his art, but as a full artistic medium that questions identity in the digital age.
Assaf Reeb
@assaf_reeb is a Berlin-based fashion designer and entrepreneur. The Israeli-native is currently working on enabling use cases for digital fashion and is an Official Creative Lens Partner at Snaptchat, as well as the creator of the Diamonds and Metallic filters on Instagram.