tech

How To Get What You Want: KOBA etextiles tailorshop

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Hannah Perner-Wilson and Mika Satomi are best known for their epic explorations in DIY etextiles and documentation on www.kobakant.at. Anyone working with etextiles will be familiar with the incredible resource How To Get What You Want.

Their latest project KOBA takes this work one step further and offers an open studio and shop front allowing the public to walk in and commission whatever wearable electronic garment they can dream up! If you are in Berlin, I recommend you pay them a visit.

I started 2018 in style, spending an inspiring week in the KOBA Schneiderei in Kreuzberg. Working alongside Hannah and Mika I drafted the block for my unisex modular jumpsuit collection (more on that later) as well as giving a talk about 'how do we know what we want? making fantasies come true' at their first #Shoptalk event. We collaborated on a prototype jumpsuit (for ..me!) and you can follow the design and evolving documentation here. In the belt are vibration motors which tell me north when activated - by jumping, of course. It also wakes me up by 'purring' if I have been stationary for too long. Watch the video below or check out their blog post to learn more.

You can follow the evolution of the tailorshop and ongoing documentation on the KOBA website. If you want to be inspired and lose yourself in a web of inspiration, I encourage you to follow the multitude of links in this post and explore their work. You won't regret it.

I will be going back to KOBA in March (after we have recovered from fashion week) with my partner in crime Bex to see what wonders have been dreamt up since this visit.. and to make custom jumpsuits for Hannah and Mika.

Anyone familiar with my clothing obsessions will know: jumpsuits are the way of the future. This allusory jumpsuit pattern (and the whole collection) will be open sourced and uploaded as soon as we have: made the different style samples, rubbed our beards thoughtfully, hated them, decided we love them, shot them beautifully, presented them officially and finally, refined the patterns and uploaded the content. No biggie. You can have the patterns for free and will also be able to order them from us. The future will be sexy and utilitarian and have options. We have one month to complete this mission. Watch this space.

The Embodisuit on tour: November at SIGGRAPH Asia

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The Embodisuit is currently travelling the world with Sophia Brueckner, inspiring conversation about our relationship with screens, data and aesthetics in the emerging field of wearables.

It has recently been displayed at Technarte in Los Angeles, HASTAC 2017: The Possible Worlds of Digital Humanities in Florida, The IoT 2017 conference at the ARS Electronica centre in Linz, and is now on display at SIGGRAPH Asia in Bangkok. 

Follow the hashtag #embodisuit on Twitter, Instagram and facebook to find out where it will be travelling next, and stay tuned for new textile interpretations and modular workshops

 
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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:

stretch circuit eTextiles

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Second Skin is a project inspired by the bonding research I am doing for mi.mu gloves. This takes the idea one step further, leading to experiments with stretch sensors instead of bend sensors (for the gloves) and exploring bonded stretch circuits using eTextiles and sports/dancewear fabrics. Using bonding processes usually seen in sportswear and lingerie, I have been applying this idea to stretch conductive textiles layered (and isolated) in sheer stretch materials.

Tutorial here, with a list of materials used:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Stretch-Circuit/

The aim is to create an entire garment with interchangeable panels. Using this technique, low profile stretch panels can be used in places where wires would usually be a problem. With the right connectors, a garment like this could be used as a rapid prototyping shell to test circuit configurations on the body.

Thank you to Adafruit for featuring it on #wearablewednesdays:
https://blog.adafruit.com/2016/08/31/how-to-make-a-practical-stretch-circuit-for-your-wearable-tech-wearablewednesday-wearabletech-rachelfreire/

mi.mu gloves in Barcelona at Sonar+D

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Last week team mi.mu gloves visited Barcelona to present the gloves at Sonar+D. Chagall performed a full live set of her Stray Flux EP using only her gloves to manipulate her voice and sound and to trigger and loop samples and effects. Everything you hear is performed live. You can watch the recording of the livestream here at La Vanguardia's facebook page

Mi.mu gloves are a wireless wearable technology which allow you to create, manipulate, record and play music using only your hands, changing the dynamic of electronic music from a physically introverted interaction with a computer to one which is more dynamically and expressively connected to the audience. It restores traditional elements of performance to modern electronica, fusing the future of music with essential elements that have made live performance a physically and emotionally engaged art form throughout history. Using a small portable router connected to a laptop running our Glover software and any program which reads MIDI or OSC, you can map any sound to any gesture or posture and manipulate it in real time in a 3D space. Mi.mu stands for 'me'/'my'/'midi' and 'music'. Mi.mu gloves are a completely programmable wearable gestural interface which give the user almost unlimited possibilities as to how they can map their own 3D space to create music through gesture and movement. They are currently made and released in limited runs from our London HQ above Rachel Freire Studio and we are steadily building an international user base as we develop the technology, exploring and mapping this exciting language of gesture.

L-R Rachel Freire, Adam Stark, Chagall Van Den Berg, Eduardo FitchFrom sold out popstar arena tours to TED talks at CERN, exploring their potential to make music more accessible to those with disabilities, encouraging hackers to break down barriers …

L-R Rachel Freire, Adam Stark, Chagall Van Den Berg, Eduardo Fitch

Chagall's performance also debuted her new interactive visuals, controlled by the gloves. The code was written by mi.mu's Glover author Adam Stark and art directed by the brilliant Eduardo Fitch. All Chagall's clothes for the live show and in the projections are by mi.mu textile designer Rachel Freire. The team had an amazing time sharing our work, both live at the venue and the 60k and counting viewers of the livestream video. Huge thanks to Sonar+D for brilliant documentation and tech support and a really great show.

Learn more about mi.mu gloves here. This summer we will be announcing a residency for those who want to get their hands in a pair of gloves and add to our growing community of users, makers and hackers.

Follow mi.mu gloves on social media   TWITTER   |   FACEBOOK   |   INSTAGRAM   |   YOUTUBE

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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eTextiles summer camp and wearable prototyping accessories

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eTextiles summer camp is a week-long gathering of expert practitioners in the fields of eTextiles and soft circuitry, founded by Hannah Perner-Wilson and Mika Satomi of Kobakant. It is an wonderful place to share ideas, collaborate and prototype at Moulins de Palliard arts centre in rural france. There was an public exhibition of our pieces, workshops to teach techniques, focus groups to explore ideas in more depth, presentations to share and discuss findings and lots of home cooked food and local wine. A perfect summer holiday and a hotbed of future collaborations and inspiration.

I worked in the 'Make your Tech and Wear it' focus group and explored the aesthetic language of wearables and how this can/will affect our response to tech on the body. The image below is a pair of leather prototyping cuffs made using only textiles and soft circuitry (and - full disclosure - four sewing pins). The right cuff has an eTextile breadboard, power source and thermochromic coating to warn the wearer if a component is drawing too much power. The left cuff is a continuity tester with interchangeable output slots, a pouch to hold small components, and pin cushion. This is a working sketch for an idea to make a rapid prototyping kit which will be presented as a fashionable accessory. It also asks the question: would someone want wear it without knowing of it's inherent purpose and could this pique their interest in making/wearing tech?

The idea was inspired by Irene Posch and Hannah Perner-Wilson's 'Tools for Practitioners' project, developing the aesthetic aspect to pose questions. The final prototype will incorporate all the ideas from the pair of cuffs into one refined functional object and I will make a small run for people to wear and test. I would be fascinated for someone to want this accessory without knowing (or maybe even caring) of its purpose.

If you would like to follow the prototyping accessory project, purchase one of the test run or make your own, the patterns, techniques, circuit diagrams and materials will be compiled and posted on Hannah and Irene's tool website toolswewant.at

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.