Smart Color-shifting Umbrella


SquidLondon is a young innovative company based in London that is conducting experiments with smart materials and textiles to create a range of innovative color-changing products.

Smart Color-shifting Umbrella


I find their water-reactive umbrellas quite lovely. Using hydrochromic inks, the white patterns in the umbrella fill with color when wet. Hydrochromic inks work in a similar fashion to thermochromic and phtochromic inks. Instead of reacting to heat or UV light, they shift color in response to water.

Unfortunately, the umbrellas are a limited run and they seem to be sold out.

Pattern Changing Swimsuit


Another lovely project that uses smart inks is Yun Ding's Aqua Chameleon swimsuit.
Her swimsuit pattern gradually transforms from a geometric print into a decorative pattern under varying environmental conditions. I'm not sure if the above swimsuit reacts to water and sunlight — conceptually, either of the two (or combination thereof) would work.

Why is this important?
I believe the next stage is to combine a number of these smart inks to work together to create reactive skins. Wouldn't it be fantastic to design a facade of a building with all three of these smart inks — so the building's skin changes pattern in accordance to its environmental conditions? Even a simple "environmentally-aware" wearable would be quite nice.

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zheng Comment by zheng on July 4, 2010 at 3:13am
It is very interesting, I am wondering, where these ink and fabric is produced, and how to order them and use it in production? Who knows more about it, please let me know.

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