Anima Code Personal Seal Stamp

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Anima Code is a Hanko (Japanese personal seal) with an engraved QR code. The unique code contains a key to a person's online digital data, and after his or her death, the bereaved ones can reach the person's digital archives by scanning the code stamped beforehand. Through the physical interaction of stamping a seal, this project explores the secure yet intimate approach for inheritance in the digital era.

Dimensions & Packaging

The dimensions of the stamp are 10mm square and 62mm long; the proportions complement the delicacy and precision of the QR code engraving. The packaging is made of paulownia wood, a material that is highly airtight and suitable for storage to maintain proper internal humidity. The box made of paulownia wood has been used in Japan since ancient times to store and preserve porcelain and art objects, and also means "inheritance".

Tags

Hanko, Seal, Digital, Inheritance, QR Code, Analogue, Social Media, Die, Graves, Tomb

Production Technology

This product adopts acrylic as a major material for its highly weather-resistant and processability. This transparent material is also a metaphor for the intangibility and ambiguity of digital data and its anti-ageing property. In cooperation with a technical manufacturer, it will be laser-engraved to cut out highly precise dimensions. The engraved surface will also be hydrophilic coated for sharp-edge printing so that a camera can read at 10mm square QR code.

Design Challenge

In terms of the attempt to bridge the present world to afterlife, this product exists between the real and unreal worlds. Because of its unique characteristic of the project, the biggest challenge was how I could design ambiguity without ruining the function as a stamp. For proceeding the project, deliberation and respect for various cultures and religions are also required, reconciling diverse views on life and death with the universality of the event of passing away.

Project Duration

Began in Japan in 2019 and is underway for official launch in 2021.

Operation Flow

Users register their social media accounts with the product through a dedicated service before their death. A stamp is produced with an imprinted QR code that serves as an access key to those online services. People who are given the seal will be able to read it with a camera and access the archived data of the deceased.

Research

In addition to the digital data after one’s death, the shortage of land for cemeteries and their management has become a social issue in recent times. In a complex age that is technology-driven but still largely material, this project examines the end of life from both digital and analogue perspectives. Through the miniaturization of graves and the harmonization of data and physicality, this product is intended to be an alternative solution to these problems.

Inspiration

Since the rise and domination of social media, many of us continue to leave a trace of our life online with texts, photos and videos. While that uploaded media collective has the potential to projects a multifaceted view of an individual's life, however, once the contributor dies, such digital archives are forgotten and not accessible to even our loved ones. I found the possibility of a physical and emotional act of stamping as a solution to this ongoing social issue.

Image Credits

Photo:Takuma Yamazaki
Design: Takuma Yamazaki

Colors of Anima Code Personal Seal Stamp