Featured Blog Posts – July 2010 Archive (15)

Transforming Patchwork

Jale, which is Persian for morning dew or dewdrop, is a transforming patchwork by Heike Sperber, a MediaTechnology student from the University of Leiden. The patchwork uses a temperature sensor to trigger a change of seasons, so that when it becomes cold the patchwork shows the blue snowflake and when it becomes warmer the sun motive reappears.

The quilting technique of Jale is known as English Paper Piecing.… Continue

Added by Melissa Coleman on July 30, 2010 at 2:45pm — 1 Comment

Siggraph 2010: Overview

Siggraph 2010 Wearables

Thanks to all of you who dropped by the studio at Siggraph. Today is the closing day and we are wrapping up a week filled with lots of activity.

Illustrated Soft Circuit Patch

Soft Circuit Patch

Pressure sensor with LED Robot Patch

Hundreds of people were introduced to soft circuits this week and all walked away with something glowy and… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 29, 2010 at 10:00am — 1 Comment

Digi-Fabric: 3D Printed Fabric Experiments

The crew at Shapeways have been experimenting with 3D printed fabrics, combining strength and flexibility of interlocking 3 Dimensional meshes and surfaces. Early days in the process and something they will be doing more of in the near future. Check out the video on the… Continue

Added by Duann on July 26, 2010 at 9:30pm — 1 Comment

Siggraph 2010 Wearables Studio

If you're around LA, please join me at the wearables studio at Siggraph 2010. We have a wonderful wearables exhibit featuring a lot of the projects I covered on Fashioning Tech last year. So drop by and experience them in person.

Plus we'll be sitting around and making stuff all day long so there will be plenty of hands-on activity to keep you inpsired.

Official info below:

Wearables

This area… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 26, 2010 at 9:25am — No Comments

Iris van Herpen: 3D Printed Haute Couture

I was first introduced to Dutch Fashion Designer Iris van Herpen this year at the Voici Paris! Haute Couture at Den Haag. I immediately fell in love with her intricately pleated sculptural fashion.

Impressed then, I'm mesmerized now with her current 10 piece collection "Crystallization" inspired by the process of water transforming into crystal.…

Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 22, 2010 at 1:40pm — No Comments

Peace Games: A Water-based Musical Controller

Peace Games uses the conductive power of the human body to create a water based musical controller. We've seen a lot of projects that use conductive fabrics and the conductivity of the human body as an interface for musical devices, but what makes Peace Games so inviting is the gesture of dipping your hands into bowls of water. This act feels almost ritualistic to me.

The project was developed by two artists, Ion Furjanic and Isaac Souweine living in Malaysia…

Added by Syuzi on July 20, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Workshop Light in Textiles

Next week I will be giving a workshop at V2_ in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. There are still places available!

I will introduce the exciting field of LEDs (regular, super bright, power, smd), electroluminescent (EL) wire and optic fibers discussing the pros and cons of each and giving useful tips for incorporating these in textiles. This will be followed by an introduction into soft… Continue

Added by Melissa Coleman on July 20, 2010 at 8:15am — No Comments

Conductive Playdoh and Squishy Circuits

Conductive Playdoh

Ok how cool is conductive playdoh?! No seriously. Pretty darn cool!

Samuel Johnson, an undergraduate student at the University of St. Thomas, with the help of his prof. Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, made conductive dough as a fun teaching tool for a middle school science curriculum. Middle school students seems a little old for toying with playdoh but I think K-12 may be a more appropriate… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 19, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments

LED Bracelet Study

Happy Friday everyone! It's been one long summer week: I'm sure many of you feel the same!

For a quick inspirational Friday post, we have a lovely LED bracelet study by Osamu Iwasaki. I'm not sure how the bracelet is going to powered since it's so delicate and thin but would love to learn more!

Have a great… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 16, 2010 at 12:41pm — No Comments

New Trend: Paper Circuitry

Takashi Kondo, an interactive design student at at IAMAS in Japan, has created these novel interface studies using conductive ink screened onto paper.

The first, Zipper Messenger (above) is an interactive card screen printed with an image of a ribbon using conductive ink. When the user tears open the card, a "Happy birthday, thanks for everyday" message… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 14, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Reactive Wallpaper Visualizes Energy Consumption

Reactive Wallpaper

"Materializing" the immaterial, textile designer Celine Marcq develops sensitive and reactive wall coverings (interfaces or ambient displays of sorts) that are capable of visualizing electrical energy usage.

Her graduate thesis project, Inconspicuous Matter, developed at Central Saint Martins College of Art and… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 13, 2010 at 11:09am — No Comments

More Illuminated Shoes

Creative Recreation Illuminated Sneakers

The trend for illuminated shoes is going strong. The latest (what looks to be a prototype) is a pair of sneakers by Creative Recreation and a pair of fiber optic heels by Francesca Castagnacci.

Creative Recreation Illuminated Sneakers

The Creative Recreation sneakers, developed by Moritz Waldemeyer, uses flexible… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 7, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Inflatable Resort Fashion

For fashionistas for whom style comes before safety, the the Bandeau Belt developed by Dana Ramler and Kathleen Westerhout is a fashionable alternative to the traditional life jacket.

Developed in partnership with Mustang Survival,… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 6, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Textile Design with Electronics

Although strictly non-technical I think the work of Stéphanie Baechler can be a source of inspiration to anyone searching for a balance between textiles and technology.

Poetry of Hardware is a collection of textile designs that are critical of the importance that digital devices have in our every day lives. It seems to Stéphanie that technology is getting… Continue

Added by Melissa Coleman on July 5, 2010 at 5:20am — No Comments

Mix Kicks: Wireless Wearable for Mixing Beats

Mix Kicks is a wireless wearable that allows you to sample and mix beats through physical gestures and movement.

The act of stamping your feet allows the user to "make beats." The left shoe plays the sample while the right loops it.

The samples are selected by using the zipper on the hood.

The project uses the Lilypad Arduino, bluetooth, and max msp.

It's quite amusing to watch the video and the interaction—I'm sure… Continue

Added by Syuzi on July 1, 2010 at 10:58am — 8 Comments