openMaterials

As the name indicates, electrotextiles are textiles with electrical properties. They’re mostly used for electromagnetic shielding, anti-static and heating purposes, and also for soft circuits: electric circuits or sensors made out of a combination of special fabrics, threads, yarns and electronic components. :: conductive fabrics :: conductive threads & yarns :: special electrotextiles :: related materials :: starter kit :: electrotextiles [...]

What is LumiNet? LumiNet is a distributed physical computing framework, developed for physical organic interfaces, simulation of tree algorithms and swarm behavior, and for wearable computing projects. It is a low cost alternative for the Arduino in projects involving hundreds of nodes. Why Arduino Compatible? The Arduino has an extensive community with well documented tutorials and examples [...]

Last March I had the opportunity to teach an openMaterials workshop at the very special École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence (France). It was part of a larger event in which the school invited researchers and artists from several fields to lead a one week class for 2nd year art students. The goal was to show [...]

This mitten lights up when its wearer shakes hands with someone. It has two exposed soft contacts around the thumb and across the palm which, when bridged by bare skin, turn on the LED embedded on the flower. The mitten itself was created by fashion designer Isabel Tomás, and we then sewed a simple touch [...]

Diana Eng’s beautiful Fairytale Fashion Show @ Eyebeam. Check out fairytalefashion.org for more info.

Conductive yarn is a great material to experiment with, but it is difficult to buy in small quantities. Hannah Perner-Wilson from ‘How to get what you want‘ has negotiated with the manufacturer Schoeller to place a minimum order of 30 kilograms, and is looking for others who may want to make a collective purchase. She’s [...]