A woman wants to make a handbag out of her own skin. And it’s a little less morbid than it sounds.
Joan of Manchester, England has peripheral arterial disease and will likely have to have her lower left leg amputated. The 55-year-old is having some difficult feelings about losing her limb forever. But she had a lightbulb moment — she could turn her amputated leg into a handbag.
“I was reading about the human waste scandal where they just dumped body parts in a dump to rot and I don’t want that to happen to me,” Joan wrote, per the New York Post.
She was chatting about leather with a friend when she realized, hey, her own skin could be used to make leather.
“Can I use my amputated leg to create something beautiful and useful?” she thought.
Joan posted the unusual request on Sewport, an online marketplace connecting brands and manufacturers, to find someone willing to make this bag for her. She explained exactly what she wants: a medium-sized handbag with a short strap. Most of the bag would consist of fake leather, while a section down the middle would be made with her own skin.
“It belongs to me so why not?” Joan wrote. She added that her family is very much not on board.
It won’t surprise you that Joan is having a hard time finding someone who will work with her on this. She does, however, have sketches of her design, and she has £3,000 (about $3,900) set aside to pay for it.
For more on this unusual story, watch the video.