According to estimates, global temperatures will rise with 3.2 °C by the year 2100. Around 30 percent of the world’s population, living in the coastal areas and large urban cities, will experience extreme weather conditions and floods. This worrisome development triggered Jun Kamei to start his project Amphibio. Kamei researches and develops amphibian clothes, which could allow humans to breathe underwater.
The inspiration for the design and technology stems from insects like the Mono-Lake shore fly, a fly that can life underwater. The insect is able to absorb and dispose different gasses due to a gill-like thin layer of wax and a layer of air under the skins surface of the fly.
Amphibio consists of gills and a respirator, all printed from water-resistant (hydrophobic), microporous material. The suit can distill oxygen from water, which makes it possible for the swimmer to breathe underwater. The prototype has a system that collects all the carbon dioxide and disposes it back in the water.
Jun Kamei studied at the Royal College of Art and set up a collaboration with the RCA-IIS Tokyi Design Lab, part of the University of Tokio.