More feathers experiments

This day was a bit strange for both of us.... Maybe the weather was not good...

Anyways.

We did some more experiments using vibration motors and strings and wind. Keep going...

antenna and measurements

We built a little circuit to detect cellphone activity. Afterwards we wanted to check the distance that the cellphone should be from the antenna to be detectable with different resistance values. We figure out many things: that it does not work good on the top floor and that are many variables that can influence on the wave. However, we are satisfied with the range our little circuit provide (about 80 cm).

In the afternoon we had a meeting with researchers from the "Conservatoire National de Arts et Métiers" (CNAM). They study hardcore telecommunications signal treatment. Maybe we will come up with a future collaboration.

Feather tales @ Gaîté Lyric

Ricardo O'Nascimento (me) and Ebru Kurbak were invited for a short residency at Gaîté Lyric in Paris, France. Here we are researching new sensors to detect electromagnetic field and also and maybe more important for us movements with feathers.

I will be posting here some of our research and achievements.

Our working space when we arrived.

The room after some organizing. It is actually a sound studio with no windows... We have to go outside quite often to enjoy a bit of the nice weather in Paris.

Theses are the feather we will work with.

Circuit made by Ebru that detects when a cell phone is being used. It works quite well. We are trying to avoid to use arduino and use the circuit as a switcher.

Parangonet in Utrecht

Last friday I presented my work Parangonet 1.0: sonic dimension at Straatschouwburg in Utrecht, Netherlands.

It was performed by Ingrid Berger and also Pinar help me tuning the patcher.

Interesting to perceive how it was different from the one we did in Brasil. This time only one garment was performed and Ingrid managed to make if more simple. Her performance was an almost technical dialogue with the cape. She explored it in a beautiful way. I love it!

How new technologies are changing the creative process in fashion

The recent evolution of smart textiles and materials in general triggered designers' imagination and turned possible the creation of interactive and reactive clothes. Clothes can be equipped with electronic components like microcontrolers, small motors, led's, motion sensors and so on.

Technologic improvements also influence the conception of the clothing. Nowadays when a designer has an idea and start to draw it he can use digital and also generative tools to give form to his ideas. Here some exciting examples:

The brazilian brand Amapo gained notoriety after the singer M.I.A. used their pieces in a video clip. The designer duo uses 3D technology to create some of their their patterns. The result is volumetric pieces that delivers an interesting effect depending on the lights.

Another example is "Continuum", the latest project by Mary Huang. It allows anyone to "draw" a dress and convert it into a 3d model, which is turned into a flat pattern that can be cut out of fabric and sewn into the dress. The real dress can be bought via website or you can download the parts and sew it yourself. Tools like Continuum points the fashion creation towards digital customization.

Diana Eng released a set of scarves inspired by math and ethnology. She designed the patters based in mathematical functions and used several techniques to transfer the numbers into drawings.

Another technology that is rocking the fashion design is 3d print. 3d pinging is a technology where a tridimensional objected is created by laying down successive layers of material. This allows rapid prototyping and put down the costs of production.

this video describes the 3d print process pointing out the ecological potential of this technology due to the fact that the material can be totally recycled.

The dutch designer Iris Van Herpen is an example of 3d printing in fashion. In her last collection she created structured clothes that reminds shell shapes and fractals and share concepts of architecture and design.

Almost every day pop up projects and collections the make use of new technologies in their conception and realization and for sure we are going to see more exciting examples of how new technologies change creative processes.

Katharina Bredies

I was introduced to the work of Katharina Bredies. She is a young artist from Belin that has beautiful work that mixes craft and technology using clothes accessories as support.

I found "This is not a radio" (2010) very interesting. »This is not a radio« is an exploration of different forms of materiality and interaction. Marrying the traditional »female« craft of textile art with the »male« domain of audio devices, the fully functional objects question tradtional interaction patterns and challenge our expectations with electronic products.

The details of the Radio Hood allow the user to operate a radio that is inte- grated into its lining. Knotting the ends of the shawl turns the radio on and off. There are speakers hidden in small pockets next to the hood. A string in a hem can be pulled to increase and decrease the volume. And a bell on top of the hood serves as a control to change the sender and browse through the radio frequencies.

The exotic look of the knitted radio entirely follows practical considerations, but it also reminds us of distant countries and ritualistic garments. Besides, all the functional elements that serve as the interface for the radio are borrowed from clothing.