Welcome to the seventh insertion of DEMUR®, a series where we will be highlighting some of the most interesting topics in all of art. This week we’ll be revisiting the pinnacle of unorthodox in the form of Arnold Putra’s ‘ethically sourced’ child spine handbag.
Arnold Putra is a 27-year-old extravagant designer, car enthusiast and advocate for the radical avant-garde. He has amassed over fifty thousand followers on Instagram and is known as one of the most “prolific car collectors in Indonesia”, doubling as his birth place. The extremist cites his affinity for experimental fashion back to grade school, altering the strict uniform in any way he could. Now controversially labeled a “designer”, Putra draws inspiration from his affluent lifestyle and necessity for the daunting unknown.
Arnold Putra’s obsession with individuality has vastly overstepped basic moral in the public’s eye however. Looking back to 2016, Arnold Putra debuted a one-of-one, child spine and alligator tongue handbag. Each material stated to be ethically sourced, the $5000 accessory was ignored until March of 2020, when twitter user @wqbisabi brought the abnormal item to light.
The bag utilizes authentic human bone - a spine, to bridge a handle between the alligator tongue shell. Crafted in a multi-panel construction method, the silhouette puts an emphasis on “protruding scar stitching” and encourages each wearer to “sculpt a form of his/her own sentiment”. Excessively unusual, the bag has been confirmed to be a true human spine, sourced from Canada where the purchase of human remains is legal. Arnold Putra claimed he is under a non-disclosure agreement with the medical supplier, and therefore cannot put forth any documentation regarding the spine.
The designer faced major backlash as a result of this uncanny design, but the human spine bag was just one of two abstract pieces Putra has put forth. The other, a jacket crafted from goat leather, detailed with ‘human rib bone’ and modelled in front of a slaughtered camel. Many described each with words of disgust online, which begs the question;
Where is the line drawn between art, and overstepping ethical boundaries?
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