As I was looking through the various projects, I found myself drawn to projects that incorporated traditional materials in unexpected or new ways. Looking at how wood, cloth, ink, paper were transforming to provide an interface or an output. These projects were of interest not only for their traditional material quality, but for their lack of screen and the subtle, almost invisible nature of their forms.
Tangible Textural Interface | Eunhee Jo
This project uses pressure and directional gesture to control sound. The form itself it beautiful and looks like many cloth speakers, however the surface comes to life with light hidden below the fabric and sound.
Frijlets | Umesh Janardhanan & Inbal Leiblich & Andrew Stock
http://cargocollective.com/gruckus/Frijlets
I stumbled upon this wood and magnetic project that is comprised of multiple components that can grown and expand depending on the task and how you want to interact.
Liquid MIDI | EJTech
liquid MIDI: paper goes electronic to create unique controls and sounds
This project was really interesting in terms of materials as well as aesthetically, the team here uses Bare Conductive ink (which I recommend following them on Instagram) to create textile, flexible, interfaces. They are using an Arduino and simple screen printed process to create these interfaces and show the potential.
Papier Machine | Marion Pinaffo & Raphaël Pluvinage
Papier Machine booklet features electronic toys that are made from its pages
This project was fun exploration of the materials and techniques to provide lo-fi interactive sheets that come alive as you bend, cut, fold, construct the pages. The simplicity of this project and the playful nature of it is what I found most interesting and worth sharing.
3D Printing on Fabric
https://blog.adafruit.com/2018/02/14/3d-printing-on-fabric-hexagon-triangle-pattern-test-wearablewednesday/
I thought this was interesting technique that could have some interesting implication in combining or housing technological components within fabric.
On a side note: I also found myself drawn to wearables that affix to the skin. Below are those links. I see a lot of potential across the board with these and look forward to following their progress in years to come.
Japanese research group develops wearable sensor that stays on the skin for a week
Self-healing “e-skin” could provide amputees with realistic sensations
L’Oréal launches wearable UV sensor to protect against skin cancer