A performance installation based on tradition

This performance piece was just sent to me from Miya Masaoka called LED KIMONO. Thanks for sending it in Miya! It’s a beautiful performance piece based on the historical context of Kimono wearing traditions.

In college, Miya studied with Gagaku master Suenobu Togi Sensei, which played a big part in influencing this project. Here’s how she describes her experience: “I learned that in gagaku music, one wears kimonos as they did in the Heian Dynasty Continue reading »

Knitted stretch sensing

Hannah Perner-Wilson of Pulsea has been exploring knitted stretch sensing. She’s got a great photoset here that documents her experiments. I wonder how accurate the sensors ended up being. She is also exploring a circular knitting machine. I can’t wait to see if and when she’ll make some machine-made knitted stretch sensors.

See related post: Stretch Sensing Creates a New Aesthetic

Diana Eng launches Fairytale Fashion

DIY wearable technology expert Diana Eng has launched a site called Fairytale Fashion in collaboration with Eyebeam. Here’s how she describes the work: “Fairytale Fashion is using technology to create a collection of magical clothing in real life (with blooming flowers, transforming shapes, changing colors, etc.) for Feb. 2010. We share our work in weekly research and development web videos. You can help us create the designs by answering the design question at the end of each video.”

Check out some of her interesting videos here and start getting some hands-on experience with some of the materials that she’s exploring.

Stretch sensing creates a new aesthetic

I ran across this project while researching stretch sensing technology that is all the buzz right now. This gorgeous project, Aeolia, integrates stretch sensing directly into fabrics. “Each of the back forms incorporates the Merlin stretch sensor into an aesthetic exploration of textile technique mapped to the body.” source What’s interesting about this exploration is that the circuitry itself is integrated so beautifully and seamlessly into the fabric, that it creates a completely new aesthetic that also has the potential to fit comfortably and flexibly against the body. I would love to get my hands on a sample!

Whatch videos that demonstrate the material here.

Wearable technology at ITP

The ITP program at NYU always has something cookin’ in the wearable technology space. This vid shows what kinds of experiments the students are up to. There are a series of interviews where students who are exploring wearables talk about their projects, what the project’s intentions are, and what they see in the future.

Electronic fabrics workshop, July 11

I’m running a wearable technology workshop this weekend at Frayedwire, which will introduce people to soft-circuits and how to work with conductive threads. Here’s the workshop:

Making Electronic Fabrics:
Integrating Conductive Thread, LEDs, and Soft Switches into fabrics

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Generating energy from your wrist

Designers Mathieu Servais, Camille Lefer, Clément Faydi and Mickaël Denié have created the Dyson Energy bracelet that generates power from your wrist. It “uses Seebeck effect to harness energy and power your mobile phones for a few precious minutes more…”

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A connection while sleeping

Student Alexander Reeder at the NYU ITP program has created Dream Jammies, which explores the connection that can be made through natural sleep patterns across distances. A pair of pajamas are embedded with sensors that connect to your loved-one’s phone. The phone displays an ambient color that represents the state of sleep.

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Vital Jacket monitors heart rate

“All sorts of huge machines are used by hospitals to monitor a patient’s vitals, but with the pace in which technology is miniaturizing, there are no real doubts about fabrics becoming the next genuine machines…

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Blogging in motion

Wearable technology designers Diana Eng & Emily Albinski co-founded Black Box Nation, a fashion technology company, where they created their Blogging in Motion project during a Yahoo! hack day back in 2006. The purse has an integrated GPS and a camera that is connected to a basic stamp. It measures your movement by steps. Every 20 or so steps triggers the camera to snap a photo, which it then sends to a blog automatically via your cell phone that you presumably have clipped into the hardware.

What’s interesting about this project is the idea of wearable technology communicating with online sources such as social networking sites and blogs. Imagine being able to keep up with all of your social networking sites through passive and natural gestures.

More info on the project’s team via Black Box Nation.

Making sound from soft coils

(image source)

Designers Vincent Leclerc, Joanna Berzowska, and XS labs created the Accouphene Tuxedo, which emits a sonic environment through gestures. The jacket is decorated with 13 soft speakers that are embroidered on the jacket in the shape of a coil and a magnet is placed in the center. The yarn used is highly conductive so when it receives an electrical charge, it acts as a soft flexible speaker that emits a small sound. The sound is created when the wearer moves the sleeve across it or if the coils are bent through the flexing of the fabric.

What I find interesting about this project is that the designers were able to replace traditional rigid and unwashable audio components with soft and sewable materials that are used both functionally and aesthetically.

See it in action via youtube.

Light as texture

Fashion designer Hamish Morrow is exploring light as pattern and texture. Video is projected onto an all-white dress that creates this gorgeous illuminating pattern that changes and animates.

The dress is completely impractical, but it demonstrates the effect that a dynamically changing pattern can have on the mood, historical connotations, and emotion associated with the garment.

More on Morrow here.

Light as body ornamentation

Designer Kyeok Kim’s is exploring new forms of generating body ornamentation including objects that leave decorative imprints on the skin, jewelry that prints decorative traces on the skin, and stringy textures that create ornamental silhouettes.

One of his recent explorations includes a collection of jewelry that projects patterns onto the wearer’s skin called Aurora. Here’s how Kim describes it: “‘Aurora’ creates patterns of light on the body as ornamentation, extending the ornamented space around the body and restyling its decorative silhouette by motion. ‘Aurora’ highlights the relationship between different pieces of jewellery, by its nature the pieces interact with the another. To operate the decorative light, one must gently move the ring (containing a magnet) towards the main jewellery piece.”

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Knee brace creates electricity

Physiologist Max Donelan is specializing in the biomechanics of walking. One of his current projects is a biomechanical energy harvester. Sensors are incorporated into a knee brace that help control and assist hamstring movement. Energy is harvested when the foot comes down to the ground during the walking cycle (source).

Not the most aesthetically pleasing implementation, but the possibilities for wearable technology are incredible. Here’s how Donelan describes it: ”Portable electricity represents much more than just a convenience to some people. It allows a soldier to communicate, navigate and get home safely,” he said. “It dramatically improves the quality of life for stroke victims, amputees, and others who rely on power-assisted medical devices to get around.” (source)

Read the full article on cnet.com

Video dress aimed to hit the market

Future-thinking fashion designer Hussein Chalayan and Swarovski have created a dress that is covered in leds. It’s one of the few attempts I’ve seen at creating an illuminating garment that is actually quite beautiful. The dress is made of two layers, the under layer is covered with a matrix of leds and the outer layer is used to diffuse the light making it seem soft and blended together.

The dress is also not just another conceptual exploration. The designers will be making it available in Japanese markets from fall and winter seasons in this year. (source)

Read additional postings on Chalayan.