Story by Elizabeth Troolines
Photos provided by DNA Imprints
For DNA Imprints founder Ryan Yockey, inspiration struck some 30,000 feet in the air between Miami and San Diego.
“I read a magazine about using DNA in the artistic sense,” Yockey says. “After that, it was a process of a few months to create a business out of it.”
Already an experienced website designer and computer science student, Yockey approached some friends and colleagues with his vision. By summer of 2010, DNA Imprints was under-production with a number of UO grads on board helping to develop Yockey’s concept.
“We just played with it, created it. We thought we had something special,” Yockey says.
Now a fully-established company in San Diego, DNA Imprints offers interior design products unlike anything else in today’s market. By using a client’s specific genetic code as a design pattern, DNA Imprints makes products that are as unique as the individuals who order them.
Specialized wall art, articles of clothing, and even baby apparel are all available to be printed with an individual’s own genetic sequence on DNA Imprint’s website, which launched last November.
Plans are already in motion to develop specialized home décor and wedding lines, Yockey says. Even customized auto-body designs will be available.
“We just want to try to make DNA a keepsake and bring that to the home,” he adds.
As stated on the company website, DNA Imprints promises 100 personal product-satisfaction, as well as complete customer privacy, due to a “moral responsibility and obligation to be accountable in handling your DNA.”
“In the end, it all comes down to design sense. You can be very extravagant and crazy. I wanted to keep it in an elegant, contemporary light,” Yockey says.
When a customer places an order for an item with DNA Imprints, they receive a DNA collection kit by mail. Noted for being “quick and painless,” the kit contains the materials needed to perform a simple cheek swab for collecting the individual’s DNA sample. The sample is returned to DNA Imprints by mail, and then the production process begins.
Using specific purification processes, DNA Imprints lab technicians isolate the client’s genomic DNA from the sample. Technicians then initiate a series of polymerase chain reactions using multiple heating and cooling processes. Each process produces a replica of the “gene of interest,” or, the gene that will eventually be used as a pattern on the client’s product.
The replicated mixture is dispersed into a gel and dyed so that it the DNA sequence will illuminate under ultra-violet light. A digital picture is then taken of the DNA in an ultra-violet box. After the photo is taken, the pattern can be applied to any of the products DNA Imprints offers.
All DNA samples are destroyed after the lab work is complete.
Yockey says he is proud of his production team, whose professionalism shows in the quality of their work.
“When you have a team that works so cohesively together, you trust everybody’s opinion, and that’s important about a business,” he says. “You have trust in your co-workers.”
Among Yockey’s team is Leah Chan, an undergraduate Digital Arts student at the University of Oregon. Chan works alongside a number of other Ducks on the DNA Imprints staff.
“This job really opened my eyes to the kind of work I plan to do after I finish my studies at the University of Oregon,” says Chan. “I learned a lot about problem-solving and how to reinterpret others’ ideas into visual works.”
Since joining DNA Imprints, Chan has created images such as the company’s logo and various pamphlet illustrations. She says she is grateful to be a part of DNA Imprint’s production.
“It was a good challenge and experience for me,” she says. “I grew as a designer.”
Chan says she looks forward to working on future projects, including a wedding line that will incorporate wedding cards, wine classes, and candles.
“Personalized DNA art work is really unique,” she adds. “To own it or become a part of the creative team is something not everyone can have or experience.”
All ordering and processing information, including product galleries, can be found by visiting the company’s website.
“The most important thing,” Yockey says, “is that the art is inside you. If you want to understand more about yourself, take a look at our products.”
