Meet the Creative Techs: Petar Sapundjiev and Victoria Manganiello
For the month of January, we will be featuring our latest Creative Tech Residents! We would like to start off by introducing you to Petar Sapundjiev and Victoria Manganiello. Petar is an engineer, artist, designer, and educator whose work combines digital technology and organic natural phenomena. Victoria Manganiello is an artist and adjunct professor who works primarily with textiles. The interview, below.
Q: What are your backgrounds in design, creative technology, etc.?
V: I’m an artist working primarily with textiles and it’s adjacent fields, including most prominently education and community practice work. I’m an adjunct professor at two universities in New York and work with students interested in art, design, history, fashion, and product innovation. And over the past few years, I’ve started getting more interested in e-textiles and the ways that textiles facilitate the intersection of different disciplines like craft and technology, for example.
P: I am a mixed and new media artist, designer, educator, and explorer. My professional background is in engineering and environmental volunteering. My creative work explores the overlaps between modern, digital technology and organic natural phenomena and processes. My work also involves introducing new approaches to traditional objects and tools. I make these objects with a combination of functionality and aesthetics, and I work mostly with metal, wood, textile and electronics. My practice is interdisciplinary combining fine arts with design, as well as science and education.
Q: We like how you decided to marry Petar’s family tradition (grandmother making yogurt with hand-knit scarves) with modern-day design thinking (I.e “How can one be a more thoughtful neighbor and consumer?”). How do you feel this line of thinking helped in your creative process?
P: I find that drawing from personal experience is a good approach to go by when conceptualizing because, if done properly, it adds to the sincerity of the creative process, making it more intimate, familiar, and engaging. When storytelling is based on personal experiences with social issues, I believe, any gap between the artist (maker) and the audience can narrow, making the outcome more emotional in a tangible way. The experience of starting from a personal experience and then shifting the vantage point to a larger-scale, social issue is a fascinating creative exercise.
V: Also, this approach was a great format for us to collaborate under. We brainstormed about our common and different experiences and interests to find a story that we wanted to tell together. At first, we knew we wanted to create something that was experiential and told a story. And, of course, that combined our different backgrounds and skills in textiles and electronics respectively. Some of my previous projects incorporate textiles and food and their convergence is a topic I’ve been researching and working around for some time so that chance to engage with a specific, family story was exciting. The fact that we used a story from my partner’s family was especially inspiring and meaningful.
Q: Any favorite features of the fermentation quilt?
P: I like the patched patterns; I like the colors. I also like that we can connect the quilt to the computer and very simply “check on” the bacteria (just by monitoring the temperature). It’s like we are taking care of them, making sure they feel warm and comfortable.
V: Yeah, the concept of a quilt really simulates that feeling of care and attention. I think that’s my favorite thing about it: we wanted to make something that was technical and functional but also comforting and nostalgic.
Q: What, if any, challenges did you face while creating the quilt and how did you overcome them?
P: Intersecting textiles and electronics is a challenge in and of itself. Traditionally, electronics are not intended for “soft applications” and besides the LOOMIA components, most of the other electronic components had to be adjusted or modified in some way in order for us to use them with this quilt. For instance, the copper conductive thread we used is very flexible- it has no problems with bending whatsoever- but, it did become brittle near the soldering points and even broke a few times while folding the textile. So, we had to experiment and ultimately figured out a way to provide some slack near those points of soldering to relieve some tension and prevent breaking.
V: Our earliest sketches and prototypes were way too fancy and complicated. We had these origami folded shapes and intricate closures for the cloth. Also, we wanted to use LEDs to convey different data or document timing. We were very excited and wanted to put so much into this one object, but ultimately realized that we needed to slow down and focus. I think a lot of designers face this dilemma and there is truly so much value in simplicity. Maybe if we had more time and resources, we might have been able to do multiple objects that interacted with each other or perhaps a series of prototypes like in a more conventional R&D approach. But, we had so much fun putting it all together.
Q: What did you enjoy most about working with LOOMIA components?
P: It’s not easy to find quality products like this and especially when you’re experimenting, they can be financially out of reach so it was really great to just have the freedom to play and make something unconventional.
V: We featured the heater in our project and it was really great to have something so flexible. We made something that needs to be folded, rolled, moved, etc. as a part of its function, so it was great to have a component that we knew could withstand that. That reliance gave way for a sort of creative freedom that you don’t always get to access when you’re worried about your materials.
Q: Who, in your opinion, is the end-user for this quilt?
V: Since this project is kind of wacky and experimental, I think its for someone who is equally excited to play and experiment. We left a lot of room for customization in our instructions and hope that anyone who is interested will use it as a framework to apply their own approach. I also think it would be great for a user who wants to try playing with other fermented foods and perhaps introduce their own family or cultural food story into an object.
Q: Self-promo time! Where can we find your work?
P: I just made a new website where you can see more about my past and current projects: www.petarsapundjiev.com.
Follow me on IG: @p.v.sapundjiev
V: If you’re in New York, I have a solo show called “Lost Perimeters” opening at AIR Gallery in Brooklyn in January. And I also document my past and current projects on my website: www.victoriamanganiello.com
IG: @victoriamanganiello
Also, I recently received a grant from the Center for Craft for my collaborative project Soft Monitor (www.softmonitor.today ; @softmonitor) and will have more to share there soon!
