“ UFOS ” ( Aeolab , 2005 )
Interview / Article by Jonah Brucker - Cohen
In the eclectic and young story of wearable engineering science and mode , there are few artist that have both challenged the status quo while simultaneously defining the literary genre . From her screen background in computer architecture to the work she make while completing her Masters at the MIT Media Lab ’s Aesthetics and Computation Group ( ACG ) , to co - founding the purpose and consultancy fellowship “ Aeolab ” , Los Angeles - based architect Elise Co creates projects that examine the playful side of fashionable technical school while also make up novel ways of how electronics can be integrated on the body . From her early work such as “ Perforation ” , which explore how fiber - optics can be used as a window through the trunk to her later project like the “ UFOS ” shoes and the “ Lumi - Loop ” bracelet , Co ’s telling catalog of projects are important reminders that our quotidian lives are becoming increasingly inundated with technology . Gizmodo caught up with Co to discourse her past and current work and our increase reliancy on electronics and gadgets .
Images and Interview after the jump .
Name : Elise Co
Age : 29
Education : Bachelor of Science MIT 1998 ; Master of Science MIT 2000
tie-up : Aeolab LLC
exposition : Futurotextiles ( Lille , France . 2006 )
SIGGRAPH ( Los Angeles , CA . 2005 )
DesignMai ( Berlin , Germany . 2005 )
Seamless ( Cambridge , MA . 2005 )
Museumnacht . NEMO ( Amsterdam , Netherlands . 2004 )
Samsung Experience , Samsung Time Warner Center ( New York , NY . 2004 )
outdoors / Inside . Banff New Media Institute ( Banff , Canada . 2004 )
FEED . ( Birmingham , UK . 2004 )
Mode . E - Culture Fair ( Amsterdam , Netherlands . 2003 )
Elise Co @ Plug - In ( Basel , Switzerland . 2003 )
URL(s):www.mintymonkey.com , www.aeolab.com
GIZMODO : The “ UFOS ” undertaking ( in coaction with Nikita Pashenkov / Aeolab ) are a pair of running brake shoe that chase after their wearer ’s movements in 3D infinite and give a pulsing gradient of glowing colors that is unequalled to each person ’s stride . What was your impetus for design the projection ? Have you learned anything from watching people wear the shoes and how has this feedback shaped succeeding avatar of the designing ?
EC : The unidentified flying object were forthwith inspire by the omnipresent light - up LED snitcher for little kids , which I coveted for a longsighted time before I found a pair for adults at Wal - Mart . We wanted to take light - up shoe to a higher level in terms of the design and behavior . incorporate color and smooth , elegant animations was fundamental . It has been interesting look on people tire the shoes and move around in them . For one thing , people really fixate on their own feet and want to see what the shoes are doing . We expected the color patterns to be a reflection / manifestation of the wearer ’s raw motion , but what ’s interesting is that mass eventually stop move “ naturally ” when they bust the shoes . The shoe responsiveness sets up a feedback loop whereby the wearer alters her behavior in response to the shoes ’ answer to their behavior . There ’s a wad of contortion , jumping , and careful ankle rotation as the wearer explores the mapping of motion to colored spark .
“ Lumiloop ” ( Aeolab , 2004 )
GIZMODO : “ Lumiloop ” is a bracelet ( also in collaboration with NP ) that consists of a modular organization of LED displays and detector that find the wearer ’s gestural movement to create illuminated lighted patterns and text messages . Why did you choose the wrist as a display mechanism and what are your thought on the time to come of wearable messaging systems ?
EC : The wrist is a good spot to put technology because masses are already used to it with watches . It pull in a lot of good sense because it ’s a stable ground tackle point and well visible . In terms of wearable messaging organization , I really look at mobile phones almost as a wearable machine because they are carried everywhere and to a great extent involve esthetic / design as a desirableness component . So there is already widespread wearable messaging scheme in the form of mobile phones . I do think there is room for this to originate into something more intimately integrated with the body , little , more portable . I think gadget will bulge out to look , that piggyback onto the existing prison cell earphone applied science and functionality ( headsets are an example of how this is commence ) .
“ MoodMark ” ( Aeolab , 2006 )
GIZMODO : “ MoodMark ” interjects the construct of internet browser “ bookmarks ” into a physical object in the form of rotating lamp with a signature - found dimmer that can record its billet and retrieve these co-ordinate for late use . What was your intention with the task and why was the purpose of storing location data important for something like a house aim ?
EC : Moodmark was a intersection - line concept in collaborationism with Sony . In this case , the client really aim the construct . Henry Newton - Dunn at Sony Tokyo came up with the whole interaction scenario . We wanted to research the idea of impudent appliances specifically in the context of the aliveness room . It was significant to premise useful engineering while keep the feel warm and human . In term of storing information , location ( rotation ) was only one of the parameter stored / retrieved by the organisation . There was also light level ( on the lamps ) , speaker configuration , sound bulk , and mp3 - playlist track . The general idea is that all variable parameter of all sustenance - room appliance can be “ bookmarked”- we only establish a few equipment , though , so there was a modified number of parameter .
“ Puddle Jumper ” , ( Co , 2000 )
GIZMODO : The “ Puddle Jumper ” waterproof utilise electro - luminescent panels that perch up as H2O lands on and completes the tour between two homocentric tintinnabulation around the panels . What was the inspiration for this task and how do you project weather weather condition integrating further with the future tense of fashion pattern ?
EC : Puddlejumper came out of my desire to custom - print electroluminescent ( EL ) panel . I turn over silk - screened the lamp as well as the water system sensors . My previous fashion / engineering science task had a lot of concept behind them , and for Puddlejumper I just require to make something unmediated and playful . Although I did n’t extrapolate at the prison term , I think that weather is potentially a big incentive for incorporating electronics into clothing . visibleness and guard are obvious justifications for brightness emitting habiliment . A circle of the current research into dynamic textiles center around temperature ascendancy . Protection from the elements is the whole reason for vesture in the first stead !
“ Perforation ” , ( Co , 1998 )
GIZMODO : “ Perforation ” employs optical fiber to make a physical “ window ” though the eubstance , allowing one to front through its normally opaque form . What were you attempting to notice with this employment and were you well-chosen with the last outcome ?
EC : Perforation was one of those rare instances where a bolt of lightning hits out of nowhere , and an idea springs out fully - formed . I was eating luncheon one day , and suddenly think “ What if I made a bundle of optical fibre and routed it around a solid aim , with all the end matched , to make the physical object unseeable ? ” So I built the project knowing exactly what I was aiming for – to make something solid invisible by literally authorise sparkle from front to back and frailty versa . I was really happy with how it turned out – Perforation is probably my favorite personal labor . I think it ’s interesting how it creates a void in the torso in a very brute - strength way . The fiber sheaf are really wooden-headed and bulky , and I like that so much physical ponderosity go bad towards accomplishing what is essentially supposed to be an absence of matter . Another interesting aspect comes from the method acting of presentation . To show how light pass ( cohesively ) from the front board to the back ( or back to front ) , it ’s easiest to use flashlights , or to otherwise manipulate the illumination right away on either of the fiber - end grids . This turns the perforation control surface into active areas – mass focus on them and play upon them . Thus the wearer ’s torso becomes a site of interaction .
GIZMODO : What projects are you presently sour on ? How are they alike or different than your preceding projects ?
EC : Aeolab is currently working on several client projects ( I have to leave alone out the client gens until the labor are released ) . Most are facility : an eco - theme installation ; a large - scale show rampart that incorporates numerous technologies ; a reactive light installation ; and an interactional mellow - resolution motion - artwork installment . We ’re also working on a merchandise prototype ( software and hardware ) for a guest . Our late task are quite wide-ranging . Some of the technologies we narrow in ( like custom solid - state inflammation , sensing element - establish interaction , and connection communication ) are invariable , but the configurations , scale and content are all very different . I have n’t generally done client work in the fashion / technology field that most of my earlier projects were in . Aeolab bear on to recrudesce our own projects , though . I am build a new version of my Puddlejumper jacket for the Futurotextiles show in Lille , France this year . We have a couple of Aeolab mathematical product we ’ve been work on for a while , that we hope to release by the end of the yr .
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