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This 3-D Printer Can Change Fashion's Diversity Problem

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Grace Choiā€™s invention not only challenges cosmetics giantsā€™ delivery deviceā€”it disrupts their control of the concept of beauty and diversity.

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Estee Lauder
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Grace Choi is a 30-year-old Korean American who still lives in Queens with her parents. She describes herself as a ā€œcrazy, nonfunctioning creative person,ā€ despite having graduated from Harvard Business School. And sheā€™s created a product that has the potential to revolutionize the beauty industry as we know it.

Choi is an engineer and an entrepreneur. But she wonā€™t use any of those titles when describing her invention, MINK, an at-home, 3-D printer that produces makeup in any color imaginable. ā€œItā€™s activism,ā€ she says.

Straight out of Harvard last year, Choi accepted a job offer to work on food innovation for Burger King. ā€œBefore business school, I was an inventor,ā€ Choi explains over coffee, ā€œand I knew how hard it was. I [decided] to give corporate a try and it turned out to be a horrible idea. I only lasted three months. This is what Iā€™m meant to do. I wouldnā€™t even call myself an entrepreneur; Iā€™m just a creator. I like to make stuff. I got to the point where I was like, ā€˜OK, this is what Iā€™m going to do, but this time I really want it to mean something. What can I do thatā€™s really going to mean something?ā€™ā€

This past January, the idea of MINK came to Choiā€”the concept, from thought to finished product, took roughly a month. She unveiled the prototype of the mechanism last month at TechCrunch Disrupt and the response was overwhelming, particularly in regard to its simplicityā€”the printer, which will retail for $300 when it goes on sale, Choi hopes, next summer, hooks up to a computer and uses color codes (from any image on the Internet) to print the exact shade of makeup one desires. With limited shades of cosmetics available in stores (Choi cites green and black lipsticks as examples of things not prevalent), MINK has the creative power to disrupt a $55 billion industry.

But money, Choi ensures me, is not her main agenda. Rather, her goal is to ā€œchange the dialogue between beauty companies to start talking about diversity.ā€

With a targeted demographic of 13 to 21, building self-confidence and conquering racial discrimination is the ultimate point of MINK. Similarly, Choi wants to nurture peopleā€™s innate creativity, hoping that the at-home product will allow girls to want to wear shades of lipstick, blush, or eye shadow that may not be considered the norm. She highlights her own feelings of inadequacy and not fitting in, which have clearly played a role in the productā€™s conceptualization and its goal to celebrate individuality.

ā€œAfter graduating from Harvard, I thought I would feel more confident about myself,ā€ Choi said. ā€œBut for some reason, I looked in the mirror and I still felt insufficient, ugly, and just not enoughā€¦ Iā€™m like, ā€˜Where is this coming from?ā€™ I think it pummels back to when youā€™re young and how corporate America companies market [things]. Theyā€™re [always] telling you you need moreā€¦ We live in a societyā€”I feel like we live in the matrix alreadyā€”thatā€™s controlled by marketers. People just donā€™t realize it yet because weā€™re taught to accept the status quo.ā€

It seems strange, in a way, for someone to target an industry by playing its own game. But itā€™s not so much the products that Choi has an issue with, as it is the spectrum of shades and colors available.

ā€œI decided to do beauty first because that is the most important [industry]ā€”in terms of self-confidence, and shaping women. Also it directly [deals] with race. You can put this whole thingā€”the supply chain and whatnot, and do it with hamburgers. But when youā€™re doing it with cosmetics, youā€™re dealing with a racial issue because it [deals] with skin color. This is so much more of a societal issue than just a commercial issue. I was like, ā€˜This is too important for me to ignore.ā€™ā€

I asked Choi if, being Asian, this was something she experienced firsthand.

ā€œI think growing up, I didnā€™t notice it. But looking back, itā€™s like, why did I feel kind of left out all the time? I did grow up in an environment whereā€¦ even today, CoverGirl has never had an Asian [spokesmodel].ā€

In fact, most major cosmetics brands have yet to select a model of Eastern descent for their campaigns, with the most relevant exception being EstƩe Lauder, which in 2010 (to put things in perspective, the company was founded in 1946), featured Liu Wen in an advertisement.

ā€œIf the standard of beauty is [determined by] these companies and their supermodels, or their ā€˜deities,ā€™ then what does it say about all the other races?ā€ Choi asked. ā€œWhat about people with freckles? What about people who donā€™t have flawless skin? Why are we letting other people define what beauty is? I think my enemy isnā€™t any beauty company whatsoever. Itā€™s greed. And the way greed grows is by telling you that youā€™re not good enough. And thatā€™s what Iā€™m trying to bring. I think when you give a girl confidence or the idea that itā€™s her ability to decide things, thatā€™s very powerful.ā€

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