In an age of facial recognition algorithms and digital verification, Tomihiro Kono asks a pointed question: what happens when the face is no longer a fixed marker of who you are, but a changeable surface designed to be read, sorted, or deliberately obscured? The Tokyo-based artist, working under the name Tomikono, has spent years treating hair not as decoration but as a transformative medium — one capable of disrupting how we’re seen and classified by both human eyes and machine vision.

Kono’s practice is rooted in rigorous training. After a decade as a professional hairdresser in Japan, he studied nihongami, the country’s traditional hairdressing techniques, before relocating to London in 2007 to work as a session stylist. But as his aesthetic evolved, so did his ambitions. He began creating what he calls “head props” — sculptural wig works that function less as wearable objects and more as conceptual provocations. His pieces have appeared on runways for Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons, adorned Björk for album covers and concert tours, and appeared in a limited-edition collaboration with Supreme and MM6 Maison Margiela. His client list spans emerging designers like Collina Strada and Yueqi Qi, as well as established names like BAPE and Kiko Kostadinov. He’s even crowned Alter3, a humanoid robot at a contemporary art museum in Kanazawa.

The “Space Creature” series — his most sustained exploration to date — epitomizes this approach. Crafted from human hair yet evoking organisms from another realm, these wigs suggest feathers, tentacles, bioluminescent flora, all while resisting singular interpretation. Some pieces evoke deep-sea creatures or white owls; others take on metallic sheens through lacquer treatments. Kono designs them to introduce movement and fluidity around the face, intentionally blurring its contours. In some photographs, facial recognition software fails to detect a human presence at all — the wig has successfully disrupted the algorithm’s ability to read identity.

Now, with his new book Space Creatures: Wigs by Tomihiro Kono [2022-2025], Kono is sharing a comprehensive look at these designs alongside the contexts that shaped them. The following features highlights from his work between 2022 and 2025: wigs selected moments before performances by Björk and her collaborators, pieces suspended as floating specimens in museum installations, custom creations for K-pop artists and fashion campaigns, and experiments in rendering hair as something metallic, alien, unreadable. Each entry reveals an artist working at the intersection of craft and concept, continually exploring how we might collectively reclaim agency over our own surfaces in a world increasingly designed to recognize, classify, and track us.

Tomihiro Kono: This wig was specially created for Alter3, a humanoid robot developed through a joint research project by the University of Tokyo (Takashi Ikegami Lab) and Osaka University, on the occasion of the DXP (Digital Transformation Planet: Towards the Next Interface) exhibition at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa in 2023. I designed it for a non-human body, and the wig explores hair as an interface, extending ideas of identity and expression beyond the human form — introducing the bald robot as a new character!

For this exhibition, I prepared more than 100 wigs, and through close discussion with the curator, we selected and styled the most suitable one for Alter3. During the styling process, I worked with great care, knowing that if the wig caught on any essential mechanical parts, it could damage the robot and lead to extremely expensive repairs.

Tomihiro Kono: Björk wore this piece with an amazing kimono dress. She chose it on the day of the show. It’s a rare occasion to see my wig paired with a kimono, and I loved it.

Tomihiro Kono: This was inspired by Björk’s favorite Icelandic bird. This is my favorite piece because it reminds me of a white owl. I like the graphical feather patterns on hair.

Tomihiro Kono: This wig was created as part of the DXP exhibition in Kanazawa. I like adding feathers to the creature wig because they introduce both fluffiness and movement around the face, helping to blur the face as a fixed form.

Tomihiro Kono: I wanted this piece to appear as if it were made of metal, so for the first time I applied a silver lacquer to the hair. The lacquer gives the surface a metallic sheen.

Tomihiro Kono: I’m thrilled XG liked my wigs and requested several creature wigs for the “Howling” video. Juria wore this piece in the video, and Hinata was wearing hair extensions made by me. The overall direction of the video by Chio Gi-seok was incredible and inspiring. I was happy to be a part of it.

Tomihiro Kono: Viibra is made up of seven flute performers, all of whom wore my wig pieces exclusively for the Tokyo tour. It was a special opportunity to see Björk, viibra, and other performers on stage, all adorned in my wigs. I like using pastel colors.

Tomihiro Kono: This piece was exhibited as a specimen of the creature wig shown at Kanazawa. Encased in a plastic dome, the wig was presented as an object of observation, highlighting the peculiarity of its form and offering a top-down, flattened perspective to the viewer. The shape reminds me of a durian, but I didn’t intend to make any specific motif.

Tomihiro Kono: I created this wig as one of the pieces for Björk, but it was never worn. This piece is unique, featuring tentacle-like fluffs all around the creature’s form, which appear almost luminous, giving it the impression of a deep sea creature — which I really like.

For more on Tomihiro Kono, visit his website here and order his book here.