Diabetes and Arsenic Jewelry by Leah Heiss

Leah Heiss, in collaboration with Nanotechnology Victoria, has developed a range of jewelry with therapeutic properties. Leah was NanoVic’s first artist in residence from September 2007-June 2008, supported by Arts Victoria and the Australian Network for Art and Technology.

Diabetes Jewelry
Diabetes jewelry is a neckpiece and rings for administering insulin through the skin via a nano-engineered patch. The Diabetes Neckpiece is a wearable applicator device to apply Nanotechnology Victoria’s NanoMAPs to the skin. NanoMAPs are small (10 x 2mm) circular discs which have an array of micro needles on their surface. They allow for pain-free delivery of insulin to the body, replacing syringes. The Diabetes rings are designed to keep the nano-engineered insulin patches against the skin once they have been applied.

diabetes jewelry

diabetes jewelry

diabetes jewelry

Arsenic Jewelry + Water Vessels
Leah also developed a neckpiece and water vessel for purifying water of arsenic and other contaminants. The neck piece is a receptacle that carries mesoporous iron oxide (Fe2O3) which can remove arsenic from drinking water. The Arsenic Water Vessel is used in conjunction with the neck piece and contains specialized filtration devices to ensure that the purified water is safe to drink. The jewelry and water vessels are designed for people in transit in countries where arsenic is prevalent in found water, such as India + Bangladesh.

The Arsenic and Diabetes projects were both exhibited as part of Liminal, an exhibition at RMIT Gallery in November 2008; in.tangible.scape.s in Belgium; and will be on display at the Levitas exhibition at Gallery fortyfive downstairs from 11-21 March 2009.

diabetes jewelry

arsenic jewelry

arsenic jewelry

water vessel

water vessel

Designer : Leah Heiss



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7 thoughts on “Diabetes and Arsenic Jewelry by Leah Heiss

  1. Wow! I love this idea. Very chic, and very practical! The stainless steel design is very future savvy, and the purpose is extremely important.

  2. Hi

    As a diabetic I can really see how this could help me in my every day routine, without having to stress about my bloodsugar level.

    When this product comes out to the market I'm gonna be the first one to buy it.

    Is there anything like this available at this moment?

  3. Being a diabetic, I would like to know how this product is going to allow us to
    enter how much insulin we need and program our basal and bolus rates into it.
    Will it work like a pump does? Cause right now it just looks like the product will constantly deliver
    random amounts of insulin.

  4. I love the idea of the diabetic jewelry, would like to know if Tesa above recieved any info on any of her questions. Also if these products are now available, for what cost and how they can be purchased

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