PERSONALDEBRIS  

hugJackets by Studio 5050

I noticed a little while ago that Despina from 5050ltd had posted a set of super snazzy pictures of her hugJackets. As a continuation of her very lovely and time-tested (1995) loveJackets. {previously blogged here and here} The hugJackets “demand a deliberate act of union” encouraging physical touch and intimacy. The project utilizes conductive fabric quilted onto the front of the jacket and (from the photos) LEDs with sound to accentuate the consumation of an embrace.

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AwareFashion by Richard Etter, Diana Grathwohl and Sigmund Homolya

AwareFashion, a project by Richard Etter, Diana Grathwohl, Sigmund Homolya, senses switched on mobile phones. {via}

The AwareFashion shirt has sleeves that glow in the proximity of switched-on mobile phones. It features an antenna, a tiny circuit board, button cells and fiber optics woven into the cloth. The antenna detects radio waves of GSM mobiles. The circuit board processes the radio waves and converts them to light which travels through fiber optics to the end of the sleeves. There the light emits and indicates the presence of near mobiles.

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I guess I forgot to mention - I’m in the Fall 2004 Issue of DigitAll Magazine… under DigitAll Heroes. The article can be found here. The only bummer is that my name is mis-spelled in the subtitle, but it’s all right everywhere else.

this caught my attention: Prada’s Pratfall

an article discussing how and why the technology in that swanky prada store in soho has failed. definitely worth checking.

In reality, shoppers balked at the collection of personal data. And the delays that occurred when transmitting data between the sales and inventory systems and the wireless network frustrated associates to the point of abandonment. Truth be told, Prada has such limited inventory in-store that deploying RFID for inventory management seemed ill-fated from the start.

“People are uncomfortable with change, and RFID requires cultural, organizational and behavioral change. There was no true ramp up to this, it was just supposed to happen.”

going to london today to take part in the PLAN event. haven’t been posting too much lately… very busy… i keep placing warnings that i will begin blogging once again. i plan to make good on them… haha…

lots of good friends and familiar faces to see in london. looking forward to it…

as things settle and slowly start to return to normal i’m beginning to get back to work…
My dissertation, titled The Social Fashioning of Emerging Communications Infrastructure looks at clothing and accessories as the active conduit through which people create networked relationships in public and urban space. I presented some related work along this idea at the Banff Wearables Workshop and ISEA 2004.

anyway, lot’s to do… more soon.

Koji Tsukada and the Active Belt

you may have seen it first at coin-operated, then followed as it made its way over to near near future, until engadget picked it up, but the active belt is not the only project ‘feeling’ its way along.

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the Electrode Bra by Lucy Dunne

lucy dunne has just started at ph.d. at UCD. now, if i had to bet money on who’ll be most likely to turn this wearable thing into a commercially viable option, my top bets would be elise co as a designer making cool things that people actually want, and lucy dunne as a designer who will make things that actually work.

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Pod Massager by farah sit @ risd

Farah Sit, at the school of design has won an award of distinction from I.D. Magazine for Pod Massager a scarf-like massager made of electric screw parts. {via}

From I.D. Magazine:

“In a year of war and uncertainty, this project tapped into a widespread desire for creature comforts” observed Kalman of Farrah Sit’s portable massaging device. The brief, for a course called Appropriate Technology and Sustainability, was to design a product using all or some of the mechanical and electrical components of a handheld, battery-operated screwdriver. With help from Brown University engineering student Abby Thomas, Sit machined and press-fit an off-centered weight onto a small motor, encased and wired it to batteries, then sheathed it in rubber to distribute the vibration. Noting that most handheld massagers on the market are impersonal products made from bulky injection-molded plastics, she housed her massaging motor in a form more appropriate to its function: a soft, comforting scarf. The pea-green textile, which Kalman seized and draped over her own shoulders, can be wrapped around the body or slung over the back of a chair.”

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A Digital Generation’s Analog Chic is an especially interesting article in the NY Times today. the rise of retro-digital chic is the topic, with quotes from young people who are increasingly exchanging high-tech for retro style.

one guy interviewed bought a DynaTac on ebay becauseof its excessive size. he says in the interiview:

“Imagine this: I’ll walk into a bar and ask for a girl’s number, then break out my phone,” he said. “How could you say no to that?”

i think my favorites are the Pokia handsets. as a telephone reciever that plugs into your mobile, it has just the right amount of absurdity and nostalgia.