Design Favorites - September 2023
Our design favorites for the month of September illustrate how e-textiles can be used for visual and auditory masterpieces that also aid in rich user experiences.
Needleworks by Lizzy Stuyfzand:
Needleworks is a tactile interface that can be used to control smart home systems. The two elements that make up Needleworks, Lumi and Sana, propose a new way to bridge the relationship between user and device.
Lumi controls lighting functionalities, including brightness and hue. Sana can connect with a Bluetooth sound system, and controls functions such as song shuffle and pause as well as fast forward and rewind.
Lizzy says that embroidery is not typically connected to smart devices, but many of the actions we do—such as touching a screen or pressing a button—possess similar dexterity and techniques that are found in embroidery. Pattern making and threading are like swiping, trimming is like tapping, etc etc. She continues to say that today’s smart devices lack audio and visual components that appeal to our senses. She feels we are missing out on tangible experiences with our devices, and we couldn’t agree more.
Lumi and Sana propose a new way of enhancing our physical relationships with smart systems, through needlework.
Enhanced Instinct by Daan Leenarts:
Daan Leenarts, an industrial design student at the Royal College of Art in London, created Enhanced Instinct to explore advancements in automotive technology. Daan realized that self-driving car are very much a thing of the future, but we can use current technologies to make us better drivers today. Daan wanted to develop a system that would allow for a car to interact with drivers in a way that wouldn’t distract from the driving experience itself. Enhanced Instinct adds a new layer to the experience that incorporates human senses, and aids in the way we communicate with our vehicles.
Haptic circles are positioned on the back of the car seat and transmit information to the driver to keep them safe and distraction-free. There is a lot of invisible information when driving, so this takes the guesswork out. Daan believes the best way forward in automotive design is to combine the strengths of both man and machine to improve the overall driving experience.
Electronic Art Years by Maggie Orth:
Image: Maggie Orth
Designed using handwoven cotton, rayon, conductive yarns, and inks, as well as drive electronics, 100 Electronic Art Years was way ahead of its 2009 birth.
How Electronic Art Years works is the viewer pushes a button to cycle through various patterns and colors. The final look of the fabric isn’t revealed until the pattern is burned into the surface—which contains fifty hand woven textile pixels.
This programmable color-changing textile is really a study in the lifespan of electronica and art, and how not every piece of art is what it seems at first glance. Sometimes, it takes a little while to uncover its final form. Everything is constantly evolving and transforming.
EJ Tech:
EJ Tech is an artist duo from the Netherlands, and they deserve a shoutout of their own. The duo, made up of Judit Eszter Kárpáti and Esteban de la Torre, works with several mediums: augmented textiles and hyperphysical interfaces being the two main ones.
Among our favorite works of theirs are Draping Sound, a textile-based sound system, Liquid Midi, a modular textile interface for sonic interactions, and Chromosonic, a flexible textile substrate that changes appearance when touched.
Draping Sound
Image: EJ Tech
Draping Sound is an installation centered around time, space, and the limits of human perception. Textiles become electroacoustic transducers, and visitors move about the exhibition with heightened senses due in part to the vibrating textiles. The goal of this installation is to join textile and sound into a spatiotemporal entity. This is a prime example of haptic experiences and how they can transcend into the greater environment.
Liquid Midi
Liquid Midi is a textile interface that explores sonic interaction design. Trigger pads and fader boards are screen printed onto fabric. This project utilizes Bare Conductive ink and jumper wires, both of which are very accessible and affordable materials—which we love.
Just imagine if someone could DJ a set using Liquid Midi... How cool would that be!
Chromosonic
Chromosonic is a textile structure and electronic interface that reflects on the growth of digitalization in the physical world. As the textile is touched, screen printed glitches appear on the handwoven textile—creating an artwork in its own right. However, this concept of touch interaction and color changing textiles goes far beyond the art world. This technology could one day be utilized in many industries, such as automotive and home interiors. Just think: a textile could one day act as a guestbook to create memories of those who once visited. Visitors could place their hands on a fabric to record their presence.
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