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Engineers and designers have been miniaturizing things for decades. The trend to manufacture ever smaller products has seen pocket-sized computers and mobile phones. The latest thing to be downsized is a handbag that is so tiny it can only be seen with the help of a microscope. The art group MSCHF has created a microscopic Louis Vuitton-inspired handbag. MSCHF say its creation is "smaller than a grain of sea salt and narrow enough to pass through the eye of a needle". It is 657 by 222 by 700 micrometres. It just sold for $63,750 at an online auction.
The neon-green bag was made using a high-tech technique called two-photon polymerization. This technology uses 3D printers to make mechanical biotech components like microfilters. MSCHF used the technology to see how small they could make a handbag. The chief creative officer said he had not asked Louis Vuitton for permission to use its logo on the handbag. He said he would rather ask for forgiveness than for permission. He thought the bag was funny because it comes from something that is highly functional, but it has become an item of jewellery.
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