gloves

mi.mu gloves are awarded WEARsustain funding for design development

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Mi.mu gloves are awarded WEARsustain European funding for design and manufacture development. Lead by Rachel Freire, the textile development project will run from August 2017 to February 2018, developing the mi.mu gloves textiles and hardware and creating a sustainable process for manufacture.

This exciting grant means we can pursue things close to our hearts, such as sustainable use of materials, ethical business practice and also begin our journey to make a fully supported DIY glove!

Congratulations to eTextile Summercamp alumni NEFFA, Solemaker.io and Kobakant who also received funding. The future will be sustainable!

PIER 9 artist in residence

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From February to June 2017 I was an Artist in Residence for the spring cohort at Autodesk's Pier 9 workshop in San Francisco. A diverse group of 23 artists were given 24/7 access to the incredible facilities and facilitators at Pier 9 and the opportunity to work within a vibrant community of artists and makers. Safe to say it was amazing.

My goal was to expand on my work in eTextiles, using this amazing opportunity to experiment, learn and just make art for 4 whole months. I wanted to learn circuit design and Eagle, to mill my own boards, to become proficient in 3D printing, test biodegradable and conductive filaments and temper my hatred of plastic to allow me to explore printing fabric and connectors.. to better understand 3D modelling and scanning, to experiment with the conductive stretch textiles I have been using and find their limits. And of course to prototype DIY eTextile data gloves which could be made with minimal sewing skills. I did all these things and more! I even squeezed in a visit to TEI2017 in Japan to present second skin. Though I didn't learn to use the water jet. But you can't have it all..

I also wanted to focus on the process of documentation for future open-source work. Efficiently documenting and clearly communicating both design and process is a skill in itself (I am inspired by the best) and often neglected in favour of flashy magical publicity images. I'm certainly guilty of this. The residency was my opportunity to spend the time making it a fluid part of my practice. One of the outcomes asked of residents is to make Instructables. This is also one of the reasons I applied. Now I need to make sure I continue this practice with all my work.

You can see my instructables here: http://www.instructables.com/member/rachelfreire/
Work in progress images of my projects can now be found on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelfreirestudio/albums

I used my time at the Pier as an opportunity to collaborate with the inspiring artists and engineers in my cohort. A snapshot of projects are below:
 

The Embodisuit in collaboration with Sophia Brueckner [instructables: sensor // code // connectors]

 

DIY data gloves in collaboration with Artyom Maxim [video: controlling a Kuka robot with a DIY data glove]

 

Algorithmically articulated leather in collaboration with Pushan Panda:

AGxRF: ALEXANDRA GROOVER x RACHEL FREIRE AW16 USING PIÑATEX

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AGxRF: ALEXANDRA GROOVER x RACHEL FREIRE AW16 USING PIÑATEX

Rachel Freire and Alexandra Groover launch their new accessories collaboration at Paris Fashion Week AW16. AGxRF is designed to compliment Alexandra's timeless flowing robes which are 100% zero waste as well as sustainably and locally sourced and manufactured.
The collection uses the innovative and sustainable new material Piñatex alongside remade leather items with nearly all styles offered in a leather or vegan option.

AGxRF will be available for buyers and press alongside Alexandra Groover black label ANCESTRAL collection in Paris 3-9th March. More information after the cut

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Rachel is shortlisted for the Arts Foundation award for Materials Innovation

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Rachel has been shortlisted for the Art Foundation 2016 award for Materials Innovation. Should she win, this funding would allow dedicated time to work on development of the e-textiles version of the mi.mu gloves and the accompanying open source documentation. Keeping the gloves open sourced and working towards accessible technology in the future is a key aim of the project, so keep fingers crossed! The award will be announced on the 28th January at the 20th Century Theatre in London.

Read the full shortlist here: http://www.artsfoundation.co.uk/winners-and-shortlist/2016

Below images show the current design direction. Hannah Perner Wilson's initial woven e-textile glove (left) and Rachel's latest bonded e-textile glove (right). This experimental glove will be developed by Hannah and Rachel alongside the current high performance mi.mu gloves which use bend sensors and are released in limited batches here. If you are interested in buying a pair, there is a small run being produced in the spring! We are also launching a residency program so follow us on social media or sign up to our newsletter for updates.

For more information on the mi.mu gloves project: www.mimugloves.com
mi.mu gloves dev blog: http://dev-blog.mimugloves.com
Hannah's incredible glove flickr: eTextiles |  mi.mu V1  |  DIY  |  glove archive  | 
Rachel's manufacturing prototypes flickr: RachelFreireStudio

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mi.mu gloves are go!

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This week we handed over the first batch of mi.mu gloves to our collaborators, a selection of exciting individuals and groups working across the spectrum of music, performance and technology. These collaborators are our first users, and we set up 'Barncamp' in Imogen Heap's Barn so they could pick up their gloves in person, meet each other and attend a special program of workshops to learn about their gloves and start to make art. We were visited by the BBC, CNN, Wired and Dezeen so watch out for video updates on mi.mu social media. We also had the most enviable xmas tree you can imagine. It is programmed to react to sound and provided a gorgeous backdrop to the collaborator presentations.