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Would you ever sell your face? If the answer
is yes, there is a Japanese company that wants to hear from you.
It’s in the business of buying the rights to people’s faces so
it can sell them in the form of hyper-realistic 3D-printed
masks.
Ever since Kamenya Omoto, a Tokyo-based specialty mask maker and
store, announced its intention to buy the rights to people’s
faces for 40,000 yen ($380) a pop, it’s been overwhelmed with
offers. The company wants to reproduce people’s faces in the
form of hyper-realistic masks and sell them for an estimated
($940). If a mask proves popular with clients, the person whose
appearance inspired it stands to earn a percentage of the
profits as well. The controversial project, named “That Face”,
reportedly aims to give a sci-fi twist to the idea of buying and
selling faces.
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In an era where privacy and personal data seems more important than
ever, the concept of selling the rights to your face for a profit seems
very strange, but judging by the response Kamenya Omoto got in the last
month, it stands to become very popular as well.
After announcing plans to purchase the rights to people’s faces for
their That Face initiative, Kamenya Omoto was inundated by offers and
questions about the project. Even though the program was limited to
Tokyo, interest was so great that the company decided to pick faces
through a lottery.
Anyone over 20-years-old and based in Tokyo can apply to sell their face
for a profit, but the company makes it clear that those chosen are not
allowed to reveal their identities. The mask maker also agrees not to
disclose your likeness or personal information to anyone beyond the mask
making process.
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Customers interested in wearing someone else’s face as a mask can
currently pre-order one based on the face of a Kamenya Omoto
shop-keeper, but if you want options, the company announces more
available faces soon.
”We will buy and sell your faces,” the Kamenya Omoto website reads. “A
science-fiction story has now become reality. No one yet knows what will
happen to a world full of the same faces as you.”
Kamenya Omoto isn’t the first Japanese company to make ultra-realistic
masks of people’s faces. Back in 2011 we wrote about REAL-f a company
who specialized in 3D masks of anyone willing to pay for them. Prices
back then were around $4,000, so the concept never really took off.
Then, earlier this year, we featured this 3D-printing expert who created
an eerie mask of his own face.
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