The idea that plastic particles could be circulating through our blood, tissues, and organs sounded like science fiction just a few years ago. Today, it is a reality. The Plastic Blood project was born out of the urgency to make this reality visible—not only through data, but through matter itself.
Bringing together science, design, and aesthetic provocation, we developed a method to extract microplastics from human blood and, from them, created objects—bottles, cups, straws, bags—that tangibly expose what silently contaminates us.
This is a project about invisible presence. About a new kind of pollution: the internal one.
The objects do not come just from containers or packages - they are remnants; fragments of a system that was invaded, extracted from the body and transmuted into forms to expose the intrusion. Each one carries a distorted memory, a record of the silent violence microplastics inflict on us.
The choice to distort the original shape is not merely aesthetic - it reflects the dissonance between the familiar and the intruder. If we were to remove these objects from the human body, they would not remain intact; like a foreign matter being expelled, they would be stretched, twisted, and thorn. The deformation in the design reflects the body's resistance to this alien material. These are plastic bodies trying to reassemble - but never quite returning to what they were.
The height of irony—the container that holds the liquid essential for life, yet is one of the primary vectors of microplastic contamination.
Its shape resembles a conventional bottle, but as if it had undergone a slight internal fusion.
Zones of deformation make its ergonomics subtly uncomfortable, as if it were a body itself, struggling to adapt to a hostile environment.
The classic shape of a cup remains, but as if it had been internally compressed, displaced by a force that does not belong. A slight distortion along its surface suggests discomfort, an invisible pressure that has marked its structure—a parallel to what happens inside the human body when coexisting with microplastics.
The cup is a symbol of ingestion, yet its distortion represents the reverse path: what was once absorbed by the body now returns, but not in the form it was consumed.
Its deformations suggest the motion of expulsion, almost as if it were being regurgitated by the organism.
The most disposable of disposables. Its distortion is almost organic—it appears to have adhered to the body, like residue that refuses to dissolve.
Some areas of the plastic seem retracted, as if they had undergone partial absorption, while others stretch excessively, as if struggling to break free.
The straw, a symbol of ingestion, is a passageway. Here, however, it is no longer a linear object. The twisting in its shape is interrupted by some straight segments, as if it were partially absorbed and deformed before being expelled.
This contortion echoes the path of microplastics through the circulatory system, suggesting that what was once a conduit has become a disruptive agent.
The presence of microplastic in the human body is one of the greatest paradoxes of the modern world: the very material that enabled industrial and technological advances is now intimately linked to the degradation of human and environmental health. The Plastic Blood project seeks not only to reveal the scale of the problem, but to boost awareness. By making the invisible visible - by transforming biological waste into symbolic artifacts - this initiative triggers a powerful alarm: we must take action. Reducing disposable plastic consumption, pushing for regulations to limit contamination, and supporting research into the effects of microplastic in the human body are key steps towards preventing this invasion from becoming permanent.
Oka Biotech, a pioneer in biodegradable and sustainable packaging solutions, actively supports the Plastic Blood project, sharing the vision of the urgent need to reduce conventional plastic consumption and exposure. The company, which specializes in alternative materials that minimize environmental impact, sees this initiative as a unique opportunity to alert the society about the consequences of indiscriminate plastic use, reinforcing its commitment to more sustainable practices and to human and environmental well-being.
One of Oka Biotech's solutions is the production of compostable packaging made from cassava starch - a natural and renewable polymer with high potential to replace conventional plastics in various applications. Unlike petroleum-derived plastic, cassava-based packaging decomposes within weeks under industrial or even household composting systems. By supporting the Plastic Blood project, Oka reinforces the importance of circular and biodegradable alternatives that break the plastic cycle at its origin - fighting the problem must not take place just at the symptom (the human body), but at the cause (the overproduction and consumption of disposable plastics).
