Skin as the electronic platform

Philips Design has a series of projects that explore the body and skin as the platform for electronics. One of the project called SkinTiles by Lucy McRae, consists of electronic sensing jewelry that adheres directly to the skin. As described by Philips, "It is a new genre of product; a generation of wireless, stick-on body sensors that re-define traditional body adornment."

In another project called Skin:Tattoo, the technology is directly integrated into the skin to form a reactive tattoo. The tattoo responds to touch, which changes and morphs the shape and design. Together, the projects make a statement on the sensuality and intimate aspect of technology that we wear as our second skin, and in this case, as our skin itself. They also explore an implementation of technology that is directly integrated into the aesthetics of our own bodies.

Fibers harvest energy from movement

On the never-ending quest to find an alternative source of power that is efficient and portable, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology are exploring piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires that harvest energy from the wearer's natural movement. Here's how they describe it on nanoarchitecture.net:

"The researchers constructed pairs of textile fibers covered with piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires that generate electricity in response to applied mechanical stress. The resulting current flow from many fiber pairs woven into a shirt or jacket could allow the wearer’s body movement to power a range of portable electronic devices."

Now, imagine if the nanowires are woven into energy-generating textiles that are seamlessly integrated directly into the aesthetics, cut, and flow of a garment.

Low-res soft textile displays

Maggie Orth, founder of International Fashion Machines, has been working with soft computing and e-textiles. Her project, Running Plaid, explores the use of thermochromatic inks (color changing inks) incorporated into the textiles. The behavior is a fascinating visual shift in pattern and color coming from the yarns woven into the textile itself that behaves similar to a low-res textile display.

The opportunity is ripe for creating ambient soft displays integrated directly into the aesthetics of garments. Imagine weaving in RGB threads (red, green, and blue that make up the color pixels used in a color monitor display, for instance) to create a full color low-res soft textile screen that can be woven and sewn into any shape and incorporated directly into the pattern construction of any garment.

Visualizing the invisible

Agneilli Davide, Buzzini Dario, and Drori Tai at the now-closed Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, collaborated on exploratory projects that investigate the three-dimensionality of hertzian space. One of their projects called Fashion Victims, makes visible the space that surrounds us and the radiation that permeates it.

The project is implemented in a collection of garments including soft hats, shirts and bags that detect surrounding cell phone signals. The garments then “bleed” depending on the strength of the signal that results in changing the garment’s color. Each piece is meant to react once until it is completely saturated.

The implementation focuses on the “complex aesthetics” (as they describe) by seamlessly integrating technology into the form and textiles of the garments.

Challenging the aesthetics of circuitry

Leah Buechley, a pioneer in soft circuits and the creator of the LilyPad developers kit, has been experimenting with paper computing and circuits. Her circuits are quite beautiful and intriguing with possibility. The combination of aesthetics and interaction opportunities are endless with the freedom of simply painting circuits as if loosely sketching in a notepad. Imagine applying this technique onto garments where circuits are handpainted, silkscreened or even embroidered.

In fact, Becky Stern of Sternlab has taken this inspiration to heart by creating a piece titled "A Tribute to Leah Buechley". Using Buechley's LilyPad, she created a soft-sewn circuit that challenges circuit aesthetics by using one of the traditional garment-embellishing techniques...embroidery:

Anouk Wipprecht creates fashion using Lumalive

(image via industrialnation.nl)

Anouk Wipprecht from the Netherlands creates incredibly beautiful garments that will make you drool. Her recent work explores the uses of Lumalive. One of the many beautiful elements of her work is that she takes advantage of the implied gestures in her garments such as pulling a large collar up and over your head for protection or pulling it down around your shoulders for warmth.

What I like about this piece is that she uses these gestures as the interactions that reveal the display. But gestures aren't the only thing that should be considered, there is also context and mode. Imagine the mode a wearer is in when she adjusts the garment. She might be getting ready to go from one place to another when the garment is pulled around the shoulder or up around the head. How could a display help aid in this state? Or perhaps she is at her destination when she drapes it over her shoulders. How might this affect the response and output of the technology?