I have moved

I have moved...

Please see my new blog for future posts into the exciting world of smart textiles and wearable tech!

**Other news** I just started a fully funded AHRC PhD looking into creating emotive wearable communication devices for people in long distance relationships.

TITLE:

iCRAFT, iWEAR, iCOMMUNICATE: ENHANCING INTIMACY THROUGH WEARABLE TECHNOLOGIES

KEYWORDS:

CRAFT, WEARABLES, SMART MATERIALS, COMMUNICATION, INTERACTION.

BLURB:

By integrating clothing design and wearable technologies/smart materials (materials which have the ability to change controlled by an external stimuli i.e. temperature, UV levels, moisture, electric or magnetic fields, stress or pH), this research aims to enhance communication through incorporating touch. Using touch as an emotional stimulus aims to strengthen the bonds of long-distance relationships (romantic or family based) by heightening the connection whilst apart.

New developments in the world of wearable technology “are fast emerging phenomena”. However, much research in this field tends strongly towards the technologically driven and market-oriented. By drawing on the inherent aesthetic and emotive qualities of craft practice and using them as a tool to project personal connections and bonds between users, and between the users and the worn device itself. This proposal aims to embed intimacy within worn communication technologies. This research proposal builds on the applicant’s previous study, which focused on the field of wearable technology and smart materials. Using interactive garments as tools to ignite conversations, body awareness and intimate touch between the wearer & non-wearer and wearer & garment.

Dream Jammies

Via asquare.org

network research

Staying with the connected devices / objects theme, the following are two connected clothing works by Alexander Reeder.

Dream Jammies from Alexander Reeder on Vimeo.

Dream Jammies (image & video above) are user aware pajamas which can be connected to through a custom iPhone appication. The pajamas are:

aware of your body in several ways. They know whether you are standing or laying down, tossing or lying quietly. Dream Jammies also know your body temperature. This information is relayed to your partner’s iPhone, and expressed on their screen in color, changing in realtime. As you lay down to sleep, the screen fades from green to blue, the shade of blue reflecting your body temperature. As you roll around, the screen flickers red. By shaking the iPhone your partner is able to reach out, causing the chest of your pajamas to vibrate. Not pleasant while you sleep, but a perfect alarm clock. Not only are you able to keep in touch while living on opposite sides of the world, Dream Jammies offer insight into how you sleep by capturing data as you snooze.

AwareFashion

Richard Etter, Diana Grathwohl & Sigmund Homoyla have come up with clothing that makes you aware of your "digital and social environment".

By embedding sensors in the sleeves of this AwareFashion shirt, the wearer is able to sense other forms technology in the room by a visual display of light on the cuff of the shirt.

Communication dress

New York based Alis Cambol, an interaction designer / design analyst who focuses on researching and designing experiences for product, fashion, environments and digital platforms, has created the Lizard dress (see you tube video below). This interactive garment mimics movements made by an external source (person wearing the corresponding transmitter).

What can this type of technology do to enable remote communication through clothing between two people?

Search Engine for Wearable tech

A great tool from the guys that blog about wearable technology every day at talk 2 my shirt... now you can search the web (not just their blog posts) for new innovations in wearables :)

Cybraphon wins Scottish Bafta for Interactive Category

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the Scottish Baftas in the Glasgow at the Science Centre. It was a star studded event and while the company Dynamo Games whom I was a guest of did not win their category I was very proud to say that all three nominations for the games category came from Dundee based companies. As I live and work in the fair city this type of exposure goes along way to raise the profile of creatives in the area. So well done to all who were nominated and to the winner Proper Games for their game Flock:)

Another award winner (for the Interactive category this time) was Cybraphon an artificial band with a huge ego created by Ziggy Campbell, Simon Kirby and Tommy Perman of FOUND. Found say that Cybraphon was...

"Inspired by early 19th century mechanical bands such as the nickelodeon, Cybraphon is an interactive version of a mechanical band in a box. Consisting of a series of robotic instruments housed in a large display case, Cybraphon behaves like a real band. Image conscious and emotional, the band’s performance is affected by online community opinion as it searches the web for reviews and comments about itself 24 hours a day."

I had seen this marvelous intelligent junk box Cybraphon in action a few months back in Edinburgh at Inspace Gallery (Inspace, Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AB).

Take a look at the video below to see Cybraphon in action. I hope this post pleases him as the more web chatter he receives the happier he becomes and the more upbeat tunes he will play. (when I saw him he wasn't happy with the level of disscussion going on about him so the music was really sad - Cheer up Cybraphon, your an award winner now!!).

Cybraphon is funded by the Alt-w Production Award administered by New Media Scotland

Conductive inks

Bare have developed conductive inks that can be painted directly onto the skin... the possibilities for this type of

technology are endless and has gotten me rather excited!! Below is what Bare have to say about this innovative product

and have a look at the youtube video of the ink in action. Just amazing!!

"Bare is a conductive ink that is applied directly onto the skin allowing the creation of custom electronic circuitry. This innovative material allows users to interact with electronics through gesture, movement, and touch. Bare can be applied with a brush, stamp or spray and is non-toxic and temporary. Application areas include dance, music, computer interfaces, communication and medical devices. Bare is an intuitive and non-invasive technology which will allow users to bridge the gap between electronics and the body"

How much do you miss me...?

Ever wondered how to tell someone you are missing them without picking up the phone or dropping them an email...? Well Jia Yi Lin's Measure how much I miss you zipper communicators are a beautiful concept to show a loved one that you are missing them without actually having to put that into words.


They come as a set, keep one for yourself and give one to a loved one. Clip them to your bag or put them in your pocket, then when you feel the urge to tell them you miss them unzip the zip and by this action your communicator will trigger their communicator and it will vibrate, light up or even play a song. So much more personal than a text message.

Take a peek at the YouTube Video below and all will become crystal clear...

Sunlight Table

Rachel Hevicon's work has just come to my attention, it is wonderful. I especially like her Sunlight table. The surface of which is coated with a UV reactive material so when her leafy placemats (or anything you fancy for that matter) are placed on the table then moved, beautiful silhouettes are revealed underneath. Due to the nature of the UV reactive surface the 'print' that appears only lasts for a few fleeting moments then disappears. I think this is a wonderfully interactive table that I would love to sit at and enjoy afternoon tea at in the balmy summer afternoons. Rachel states that the table also helps people to be aware of the dangers of UVA and UVB rays found in sunlight due to the effects the sunlight has on the tabletop (changing it from white to blue where the sunlight hits)

Wireless charger... Powermat

After watching the Gadget Show last night which among other things featured this product from Powermat... it is a wireless charger. A small block which can charge/power any piece of technology as long as the Powermat technology (receivers) are embedded within whatever you wish to charge, like your phone, ipod, laptop or even as the creators claim a food blender...

See the video below for more information on how this innovative product works. I love it as I have a tangle of wires at home all from various phone, laptop, ipod chargers etc which could become a thing of the past. I'm all for reducing (un-necessary) objects cluttering up our houses, offices and ultimately landfill sites.

and here is an advert from Powermat...

At last a reason to go out in the rain...

Lazybone.co.uk have for sale an umbrella that changes colour when it rains. The pattern on the umbrella (a cloud design) is white then when drops of rain start to hit them they turn into brightly coloured rainbow patterns. The umbrellas are printed using Hydrochromic ink, this special ink is colourless when dry but transforms into wonderful colours when wet. When the rain stops pouring and the umbrella dries the print will once again become invisible. Think its time to start designing raincoats!!:)

Aurora - Second Skin by Lighting by Kyeok Kim

These beautiful pieces by Kyeok Kim create wondrous meandering patternings on the skin with light. Temporary Tattoos without the pain...

To operate the decorative light, one must gently move the ring (containing a magnet) towards the main jewellery piece.

Changing the face of fashion...

...well of a t-shirt anyway. Upon starting my masters course a year ago (which I have recently finished - you can see some of my new pieces here), I thought wouldnt it be wonderful if your clothing's patterning could change and alter over the course of a day... my research lead me down many paths and away from optical elusions, but now my thirst for this type of patterning change has been quenched by Sun Nº01 which is a limited-edition graphic T printed with a mix of ordinary and smart, uv-sensitive inks. (A collaboration between Moondial and Viennese fashion label Wendy & Jim)

See the video below to view the colour change from normal light to UV Light levels...

Find more videos like this on Fashioning Technology

Launched at the Ars Electronica Festival earlier this month, the shirt is now available internationally for €80 from the Moondial site.

A visual display of breath

Pneuma

Artists statement:

"We all breathe – this vital process happens automatically, without thinking. However, often we are not aware of the correct way of doing this. This project searches to encourage the user of the dress to breathe deeply and thoroughly, and to communicate this automatic and inevitable procedure of living to the surroundings. The idea is transformed into a product through designing an evening gown with a built-in breathing sensor measuring the breathing movement of the wearer around the waist (not the breast). The output from this interactive movement is transformed into light. LEDs installed on the inner layer of the dress in an ornamental pattern fade in and out along with the breathing movement. The greater the difference measured between the inhaling cycles, the stronger the LEDs will shimmer. When the wearer breathes superficially, only using the upper chest, little or no output will be shown." (Synne Geirsdatter Frydenberg)

e-motion from c r on Vimeo.

Designer Synne Geirsdatter Frydenberg uses these fashion pieces to highlight the motion of breathing. The dress (Pneuma) monitors the movement that our bodies make whilst inhaling and exhaling and records this movement by an outward display of light on the garment; this beautiful piece is embroydered and speckled with LEDs which are notified of the movement (breath) via a sensor that reacts to the breathing motion which occurs around the wearers waist. All this breathing and moving is sent via the sensor to the lights and a wonderful light show appears on the dress. The intensity of light depends on the intensity of breath. The harder you inhale and exhale the brighter the lights appear.

Sustainable Dance Floor

"Sustainable Dance Floor is an interactive floor which generates electricity through the movements of the dancing people.

Studio Roosegaarde created the first Sustainable Dance Floor which uses mechanisms and embedded technologies to interact with energy.

Via interactive technologies a sensual and interactive environment is created in which dancers are engaged with the Sustainable experience." (Studio Roosegaarde, 2008)

Roosegaarde's Sustainable dance floor works by using the energy generated by the movement of the people dancing and translating this energy into power to work the systems. Very DISCO and a fantastic concept to help people understand how much energy it takes to power the floor as well as give them the chance to utilise their movements and turn them into energy which without this type of harnessing would be lost.

5 Days off; WEARABLES Wearable Technology – Powered Art and Fashion Design

Some amazing wearables from the recent 5 Days Off CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION of WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY - POWERED ART AND FASHION DESIGN

July 15 - 19, 2009
Amsterdam

"Intimacy"

Artist Daan Roosegaarde is developing an interactive fashion garment using smart foil that 'becomes transparent when electrified'. This collaboration with V2_ Lab is a dress which 'becomes visually transparent according to the amount of personal intimacy involved.'


Daan Roosegaarde says: "Technology is used here not merely functional but also as a tool to create intimacy as well as privacy on a direct, personal level ... which in our contemporary tech society is becoming increasingly important."

UV tatoos

I have come across these tatoos in my quest for other sources and uses for UV ink...


Colour Changing body adornment, it is now possible to change your spots if you like, however permenant...



And here is a semi-permanant one using a stencil and the sun... could result in some nasty sunburn, suncream anyone...?

Co-Dependent Gloves

Another beautiful product and project from Fiona Carswell. Her Co-dependent gloves highlights the need for social interaction and the fact that (sometimes) we do have to depend on and need companionship and physical touch to survive.


These gloves are a set; to gain the benefit from these heating gloves the wearers must make contact (hold hands) to complete the circuit and cause the reaction. A great rebellion against the thinking people can function solely without the need for any sort of companionship and that self sufficiency is at the heart of progress and development. Working together and creating strong bonds and communities I feel will better further progress, technology and the well being of the individual as well as society as a whole.

Reveal an Explore Micro-organism Dress

Reveal and explore Micro-Organism dress:
Joanne Hodge (joanne@joannehodge.co.uk)
- Self Funded
- July 09
- Materials – White cotton
- Specialised Materials – Photochromic ink
- Interaction – Colour change (to UV light)
- Size (UK) – 8 - 14



Hints of who we are and how we are constructed seem to appear as if from nowhere on the outer garment as the wearer comes into contact with sunlight or any source of UV light.
To gain a full understanding the garment must be lifted, opened and investigated.
The prints and embroidery which come to life in the sunlight show the complexities in our physical make up and in our personalities.
This exploratory piece lets the wearer and others that the wearer chooses to explore their body on a very basic level. Uncovering secrets and hidden
truths.

For More Images see my Flickr page