Loan Favan: Designing the New Human

Loan Favan combines Oceanian traditions and transhumanism to redefine the human body.

Loan Favan is an artist and designer from New Caledonia. After founding Naula studio, Favan began connecting her Pacific roots with futuristic ideas. As a result, today, she divides her time between her island and studio in Bali, Indonesia. Her practice extends beyond jewelry. Instead, she forges “artifacts.” These pieces redefine how we see human identity in the future. She turns ritual objects into mystical, technological tools. Loan Favan sculpts metal like a second skin. Her creations act as connected talismans. She rejects quick fashion trends. Therefore, her work serves as an archaeology of the future. Here, old spirituality meets bold new visions. Ultimately, each piece offers a promise of survival. It carries history beyond biology. Thus, it embraces the big potential of what lies ahead.

IRK: You describe your creations as “artifacts” rather than mere jewelry. By placing these metal structures directly onto the skin, you turn the human body into a living exhibition. What drives your desire to move beyond decoration and transform the wearer into a walking sculpture?

Loan Favan: I don’t just want to decorate the body. I want to participate in its evolution.  I want to requisition its future. Changing the body’s shape changes its future and its possibilities. By altering texture, perception, and movement, these pieces bestow a new esoteric and mechanical power onto the wearer. I am deeply inspired by transhumanism. The uniquely human desire to push past our natural capacities and refuse to be defined by our biological starting point. These artifacts aren’t decorations. They are tools for evolution. They add a new visual and mechanical power to the skin, opening up new pathways for both the body and the mind.

IRK: Your work fuses futuristic “implants” with deep ancestral traditions. By reimagining ritualistic objects for a technological age, you suggest that science and spirituality can coexist. Do you see your jewelry as the definitive bridge where technology meets the soul?

Loan Favan: Absolutely, because technology is hollow without spirituality. To me, technology is born from a belief in the extraordinary. It is the pursuit of magic. If you don’t believe in that magic, you aren’t truly living; you’re just functioning like a machine. Historically, jewelry has always been a profound marker of identity. Acting as a talisman, a form of protection, and a carrier of spirits and memories. In the same way, as technology moves closer to the body and integrates into our daily lives, jewelry is the most organic vehicle for it. But wearable technology is currently packaged in sterile, cheap plastic that strips it of its beauty. I want to change that.

To that end, by fusing technology with precious, intricate metalwork, I give these modern ‘powers’ a form that matches their magnitude. It blends tech into the body in a way that feels organic, sacred, and deeply valued.o the body in a way that feels organic, sacred, and deeply valued.

TANEM FUIJA: The Rite of Immortality

What does it mean to become invincible? Notably, TANEM FUIJA, which means “exchanging future” in the Bislama language of Vanuatu, goes beyond a fashion collection. Through this speculative project, Favan explores a future where the human body overcomes death. Inspired by the immortal jellyfish and the regenerative abilities of the planarian flatworm, she imagines implants placed at birth. Moreover, these devices could reverse ageing or regenerate entire nervous systems. By combining Oceanian traditions with transhumanist ideas, Favan connects the Kanak warrior spirit to a possible biological future.

IRK: If your pieces were actual technological implants, what “superhuman” function would you want them to bring to the wearer? Is there a specific power, physical or sensory, that you would love to grant to the human body?

Loan Favan: In my project TANEM FUIJA, I explored the concept of scarification in a far-flung future. I contemplated whether future humans will still endure scarification, which animals will inspire them in their rituals, and which extraordinary powers they will seek. TANEM FUIJA is a collection of ritualistic ornaments and speculative scarifications to become immortal. Each look was inspired by a specific existing species that possesses ‘immortal-like powers’. Such as resisting extreme temperatures, duplication, or the ability to reverse one’s age. In an attempt to become invincible.

IRK: Many artists currently use AI to visualize futuristic forms. However, do you incorporate digital tools to prototype your structures, or does the raw, physical matter of metal guide your intuition from the start? How do you maintain that “human” precision when experimenting with new technologies?

Loan Favan: I choose not to use AI because I am captivated by the tension between the real and the surreal. There is something breathtaking about seeing a physical object, on a living model, in a real space, looking like an absolute hallucination. It’s the beauty of what I call ‘past futures’. A projection of a far-fetched history that never was. Technology has its place in my studio for logistics, but when it comes to creation, physical matter guides me. We choose hand-carved wax models over 3D prints because a machine cannot replicate human intuition. That handmade process leaves an energetic imprint on the piece. It ensures that the final structure has a soul, standing in direct contrast to the sterile perfection of AI.

IRK: From the delicate braids of NINEN to the sharp spikes of PLAK, every piece requires a high level of precision. Which project challenged your technical skills the most, and why?

Loan Favan: I always say that I am terrified of my next project, because I push myself to step up the conceptual and technical difficulty every single time. My greatest challenge so far was a piece from my latest exhibition, TANEM FUIJA. The application on a living model was an intense physical battle. The model had to remain kneeling for hours, to the point of numbness. We initially attached the heavy structures using prosthetics, but due to the sheer weight of the metal, we had to reinforce them with hidden metal wires. Furthermore, that is where the real technical challenge lies: the moment gravity hits. Suddenly, you are fighting against the organic movement of the body, the expansion of breathing, and physical resistance; you have to find a way to make the metal blend seamlessly with the skin.

Beyond the exhibition work, functional custom pieces, like engineered pendants with hidden screw compartments. Also constantly challenge my precision mechanics.

IRK: Your pieces often blur the line between jewelry and sculpture. If you were granted unlimited resources, what scale would your next project take? Could your work evolve from wearable “artifacts” into full-scale architecture?

Loan Favan: The ultimate blessing of being a creator is the freedom to rewrite reality and its future. Indeed, I always want to challenge how we define the objects around us. Currently, my work operates in two realms: the monumental, conceptual pieces built around re-questioning our human future, and the wearable adaptations. In other words, traditional jewelry pieces that act as accessible entry points to my universe. With unlimited resources, the evolution from wearable artifacts to full-scale architecture isn’t just a possibility; it’s the ultimate goal. I don’t see a difference between structuring metal around a collarbone or engineering it into a room. Ultimately, I want to design furniture, environments, and spaces that challenge the human experience on a massive scale. Jewelry is just the first step; time and budget will dictate how fast we get there, but the blueprint for these larger worlds is already living in my mind.

IRK: Your jewelry speaks a cryptic language, balancing ancient echoes with futuristic armor. If your work were to communicate a single message to humanity, what would it be? Is it a warning about our disconnection from nature, or a hopeful call to embrace our evolution into something new?

Loan Favan: If my work carries a single message, it is a warning not to disconnect from your own self and your inner spirituality. We live in a world that has become increasingly faithless. But without faith, whether that is faith in magic, in technology, or in something greater than ourselves. There is no future. Without it, hope dies, and we stop truly living; we just exist

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Artist: Pauline Loan Favan

Collection TANEM FUIJA
Photographer: © Tyson Ernste
Model: © Lintang represented by Persona Bali
MUA: © Adara Tresna

Collection PLAK
Photography credit: © NIKOKO Studio
Model: ©  @low.nut
MUA: © Juru Rias
Clothing: © SMELLMYLATEX
Nails: © QUEEN DEM NAILS

Collection TIMIDRA NGNO KA THIP
Photographer: © Tyson Ernste
Model: © Lea