A black robot by the beach is the model for the new photo campaign presenting the latest collection by Konstantin Kofta, the Kiev-based designer who never ceases to amaze us with his conceptual collections of hand-made leather bags and accessories. The mind-blowing geometrical bags from his label’s Spring-Summer 2015 collection pushed the limits of leather bag-making to their extremes, both in terms of form and treatment of the material. An even more unbelievable collection followed suit in 2016, inspired by Baroque architecture which featured bags in a matte concrete finish. Konstantin Kofta’s bags are like wearable works of art that inventively question and even mock our assumptions of what a bag should be, and how what we wear should relate to our body and our environment.

For his Autumn-Winter 2017 collection, Kofta takes his practice in a new direction, following the concept of a post-human world where our bodies are a combination of machine parts and flesh. Through this collection, the designer explores a future in which “the Era of Mankind is coming to its end” where technological advancement is transforming our bodies and minds. This concept of a cyborg future that, in a way, threatens our humanness is reflected in the various designs created for Kofta’s RHX11 collection: some have computer parts embedded under the leather like machine parts visible under the skin, while others take the form of metal plating or machine joinery, like a body that has assimilated huge chunks of steel. However, the most poetic piece in the collection is probably the piece depicting a human back in real size, which has a motherboard fan protruding from its side. Unconventional and masterfully made, Konstantin Kofta’s new creations remain ever faithful to their designer’s uncompromising vision and creative spirit.