Category Archives: Inspiration

BIOPLASTIC FANTASTIC – BIOLOGICAL DEVICES

Bioplastic Fantastic is a project that imagines how we can use bioplastics to create food for the future. It was created as a piece of speculative design by Joannah Schmeer. She uses these plastics with biological bacteria to make new more sensual and less technical looking designs . I am interested in her choice to think about design sustainability and future materials. Here is a list of the artworks:

The seven products:

1. ‘Rhod’ - produces protein — model organism: Rhodococcus bacteria

2. ‘Cyan’ - produces sugar & oxygen — model organism: Cyanobacteria

3. ‘Pseu’ - extracts water from air — model organism: Pseudomonas

4. ‘Caul’ - produces protein — model organism: Caulobacter

5. ‘Gluc’ - produces fibre — model organism: Gluconanacetobacter

6. ‘Lith’ - extracts minerals from rocks — model organism: Lithotrophs

7. ‘Lact’ - produces vitamins — model organism: Lactic acid bacteria

Image of the Instillation

By: Niki Selken

Joy Slippers

I stumbled upon this project from Hannah Perner-Wilson, called Joy Slippers.

They originally caught my eye on Instructables because I liked the aesthetic and there’s something intriguing about seeing old style coiled phone cables coming out of slippers.  I originally thought they were attached together, which seemed to have exciting implications, but they’re not as it turns out.  They have pressure sensors in them that send data back through the phone cables.

I also enjoyed looking at her x-IMU gloves.  Although, we’ve all seen the gloves loaded with sensors thing, i thought these ones looked a bit different.  I like the well controlled wires that are visible through the top.  It’s a good example of having an exposed guts look, while also looking very intentional.  For me, they also invoke connections to the central nervous system, which seems very appropriate.

Link

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This project is called (NO)WHERE (NOW)HERE by Ying Gao. The series comprising two (2) dresses, made of photoluminescent thread and imbedded eye tracking technology, is activated by spectators’ gaze.

“A photograph is said to be ‘spoiled’ by blinking eyes – here however, the concept of presence and of disappearance are questioned, as the experience of chiaroscuro (clarity/obscurity) is achieved through an unfixed gaze.” says Gao.

Inspiration (Week1)

Oncle Sam Popcorn Machine

Oncle Sam

I am always interested in small objects and the little details attached. This popcorn making machine focus on one corn kernel each time. Heat up the kernel with the right amount of the oil, wait for a few time, season the popcorn with a little bit of salt. In this case, you will avoid the alarming amount of fat and calories unlike the cinema popcorn. To me, it is an observation of how human activities change an object into another form, the processing of designing, objet d’art.

[Week 1] Inspiration

The project called PATCH OF SKY excited me. It is a a set of three Internet connected ambient lights, enabling users to share the sky above them in real-time with loved ones, wherever they are. Each object gathers weather information based on users’ current Facebook location and displays it with colored light animations. Patch of Sky could be a silent companion, that will tell users about the sky and world they are living in, while away. 

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Week 1 – Inspiration

Takashi Aoki’s installation Bloom Skin is a computer-controlled kinetic installation for the window display of ELTTOB TEP ISSEY MIYAKE. The installation took place for promotion of their newly adopted fabric called Organdie, a super light and thin cloth. A custom software in openFrameworks to control the wind movement with multiple fans via DMX protocol. The work is a simulation of a natural form, one that is fluid and smooth. This in a way shatters the fact that the flow is controlled by a computer program.

Week1: Inspiration

Probes; SKIN dresses (2006) by PhilipsDesign

Materials: Polyester, Non-woven, Fabric, LED Projectors, Glass Fiber Rods, and Biometric Sensors.

This is an interactive wearable garment, which is drawn by human’s heart rate and respiration. The dress expresses various colors and shapes according to individual emotions.

It has two layers: the inner layer contains biometric sensors and the second layer displays a person’s emotions.

Inspiration (Week 1)

Jessica Hartwig

Being and architecture major and knitter, I’m interested in large scale interventions that use textiles or the logic of textiles. This also happens to be my thesis, the connection between the two. So here an example of a project that I’ve been inspired by lately:

The “Strawscraper” by Belatchew Arkitekter

http://vimeo.com/69747250

This project proposes a building facade made from piezoelectric materials in a straw like form that blow in the wind and transform that movement into energy for the building. “The straws consist of a ceramic core with a flexible polymer cladding” and “What is usually considered to be the most static of all things, the building, suddenly comes alive and the construction gives the impression of a body that is breathing,” says Belatchew Labs’ official release.

What I find really interesting about the project is that it is taking a technology used in e-textiles and trying it at the scale of a building. The use of this system creates a new way of looking at an urban wind farm that is much more visually pleasing/interesting and seems much less harmful in terms of the surrounding wildlife. It also has the potential to be integrated into existing buildings or tunnels.

 

 

 

Inspiration

A few projects to inspire and introduce the field:

The Crying Dress by Hannah Perner-Wilson and Mika Satomi

Specifically I want to highlight their use of storytelling and character generation to inform their process. This duo is phenomenally meticulous in their documentation. Please look at the making of page (especially if you are interested in sound generation – really cool stuff here): http://www.kobakant.at/?p=287
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