13. Implications and applications

slide show

what, why, how & when

WHAT is the conecpt of the project

Capsule collection of three interactive garments emerging from multisensory experiences.

• Research methodology grounded in data set analysis, focusing on five distinct human perspectives, who rated experiences using the 5 senses graph, inspired by Jinsop Lee's TED Talk, “Design for All 5 Senses”.
• The resulting data will guide the creation of three multisensory garments, designed to reflect and amplify the dominant sense experienced by the research subjects.
• Through public feedback, data will be collected from those interacting with the garments, sharing which senses were felt the most, using the 5 senses graph.
• Create a collaborative short film that captures the interactions between the public and the garments, providing an opportunity to showcase my work in a space that fosters freedom and experimentation.

WHY the project is relevant

• Interesting field of research. Over the past few months in Fabricademy, I believe I’ve unconsciously expanded my senses by delving into areas I had never explored before. So I’ve started researching how do sensory experiences influence our perception, and how does our perception shape the way we experience sensory input. It's really interesting to think about how an experience can feel soulless when only one sense is activated, and how many factors can affect how we all perceive different senses.
• Driven by passion. The concept will be translated into garments because fashion is my passion and is also a form of identity and self-expression, much like the way we use our senses to both convey who we are and interpret the world around us.
• Embracing new challenges. By embracing the realities and perceptions of different individuals, it offers a unique opportunity for personal and intimate experimentation. The project aims to challenge the prevailing dominance of visual and tactile senses in the fashion industry, fostering a multisensory design perspective that deepens the connection between garments, their wearers and those they interact with.
• Sustainability. By upcycling second-hand garments and tapestries, to create the final garments, while embracing sustainable practices through textile printing techniques.

HOW the project relates to Fabricademy

Weeks in Fabricademy that form the foundation of this project:

• BioChromes
• Computational Couture
• BioFabricating Materials
• Wearables

The project will also incorporate the knowledge gained throughout all the weeks.

As one of my main interests, and a key focus of this project, patterns and printing techniques on textiles, I would like to highlight that the weeks Circular Open Source Fashion and Open Source Hardware were especially beneficent in deepening my knowledge and expanding opportunities for new approaches in these area. This includes exploring human-machine collaboration and the creation of 3D patterns through textiles.

HOW to achieve it

Phases	Practices	Explanation
Relation Research	Creating Graph and Questionnaire / Data Collection and Analysis	By creating a customized graphic and intimate questions that participants can relate to when rating their sensory experiences, the collected data will provide a more in-depth analysis.
Experimentation Research	Interactions and Materials Research / Developing Prototypes and Material Samples	Conduct a wide and in-depth research of both interactions (analog/digital inputs&outputs), textiles and printing techniques, selecting those that can be replicated or further developed into new samples. Explore potential designs through sketching and prototyping.
Design and Creation	Producing Final Garments	Produce the final garments using the selected materials and printing techniques. Complete the looks by creating accessories and jewelry if time allows.
Collaboration	Short Film Production / Collecting Public Feedback for Additional Data	Find a suitable location and public for the short film, then collaborate with Pedro Alves, videographer and photographer, to produce and edit it.
Reflection	Final Data Analysis	By gathering public feedback, an additional data analysis can be conducted to better understand the different perceptions the final garments evoke in others.

WHEN timeline of the project

PHASE 1 | Now - January 14 (30 days)
Define and understand the project scope and parameters
Conduct data set analysis
Research the senses and explore potential inputs, outputs, and interactions
Gather references and inspiration for design concepts, techniques, and materials
Create sketches and initial design ideas

PHASE 2 | January 14 - March 7 (53 days)
Analyze the data set
Select the final 3 designs for crafting
Experiment with and develop samples of printing techniques and textiles
Create prototypes
Make the final garments
Refine and complete the final looks

PHASE 3 | March 8 - March 23 (15 days)
Film, photograph the garments and their interactions (collaboration)
Edit the film (collaboration)
Finalize documentation

graph & questionnaire

preliminary research

embodied ideation session

Body parts that are unconsciously touching:

• Armpit area/ inner arms
• Inner thighs
• Hands/arms touch the sides of the torso and legs when standing
• Feet are always touching the ground
• Hands touch the face/ hair
• Fingers touch other fingers
• Fingers on the lips

Body parts that can consciously touch:

• Head touching the shoulder (or other person)
• Hands touching each other
• Chin touching chest
• Head/Neck movement
• Arms movement, like hugging the torso
• Squat
• Stretching arms/ legs

input & ouput systems

Analog/ digital interactions:

• Have one sense that is activated by the wearer (input) that activates other different sense in the garment (output) (eg. touching the textile in some areas with conductivity that will spread a smell in a different area/ or spread sound).
• Analog output, like having two textiles rubbing on each other that make sound.
• Temperature or heat beat reaction, the garment will start moving or color changing.
• Movement of the wearer that amplifies sound or smell.
• Light exposure.
• Stretch/ Squeeze.
• Airflow that goes through the garment and it has bells or some type of sound that activates.

Textile techniques:

• Knitting with conductive thread.
• Felting with conductive yarn.
• Upcycling (second hand and tapestries)
• Compressed spongy material that when is in contacted with water/sweat it expands
• Smelly and tasty bio fabricating materials

inspiration (references)

• Multi-sensory installation by Studio Swine for COS, 2017

The blossoms were designed to float down and burst on contact, releasing a custom scent of bergamot, jasmine, cedar, and oak moss, enhancing the sensory experience.

The sensory aspect is especially evident in how these mist-filled orbs interacted with the environment. The audience was encouraged to engage with the installation by wearing special gloves that allowed them to hold the blossoms, preventing them from popping immediately.

The installation not only appealed to sight (through the visual spectacle of the tree and its blossoms) but also to touch, smell, and even the ephemeral feeling of the mist.

Senses explored in the reference: Smell/ Touch/ Visual

• Tangible Textural Interface (TTI) by Eunhee Jo at Show RCA 2012

By interacting with the soft, concave control panel, users can adjust the music's volume, skip tracks, or modify the equalizer settings through tactile gestures.

The fabric surface dynamically changes in response to these controls and pulses to the rhythm of the music, providing an immersive experience that blends touch and sound.

(flexible surfaces that can physically respond to user input).

Senses explored in the reference: Sound/ Touch/ Visual

• Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) by Félix González-Torres, 1991

It consists of a pile of individually wrapped candies, often arranged in a corner or spread out on the floor. The pile is meant to symbolize the weight and loss of his partner, Ross Laycock, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1991. The pile of candy represents Ross’s body, and the work is both a tribute to him and a metaphor for his physical presence.

The pile of candy, which viewers are invited to take from, gradually diminishes as people interact with it.

Senses explored in the reference: Taste/ Touch/ Visual

• (1) Smell Chess, Liquids by Takako Saito, 1960

Olfactory art created as part of the Fluxus art movement in the 1960s. This work reimagines the traditional chess experience by replacing the visual and tactile identification of chess pieces with olfactory cues. Each chess piece is represented by identical glass vials, differentiated only by their unique scents.

Saito’s Smell Chess was part of a series of experimental chess sets that redefined the game by engaging other senses, such as hearing (Sound Chess) and taste (Liquor Chess).

Senses explored in the reference: Smell/ Touch

• (2) Ernesto Neto Sopro exhibition at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, 2019

One of the main pieces in the Sopro exhibition was a large, translucent tunnel made of stretched fabric, which visitors were invited to walk through. This piece played with the senses, particularly balance, proprioception, and spatial awareness. As viewers moved through the tunnel, the fabric responded to their movements, swaying and shifting as they walked, creating a fluid, almost dreamlike atmosphere.

The exhibition included installations infused with scents from organic materials like turmeric, clove, and other aromatic spices, creating an immersive and multisensory environment.

These smells are carefully chosen to provoke memory, reflection, and a sense of community within the exhibition space.

Sense of Balance/ Touch/ Visual

• (1) Your blind passenger, by Olafur Eliasson, 2010

Immersive experience designed to challenge our reliance on sight and awaken other senses.

The work consists of a 45-meter-long tunnel filled with dense fog, reducing visibility to just 1.5 meters. This controlled environment creates a sense of partial blindness, compelling participants to navigate using their other senses such as touch, hearing, and spatial awareness.

• (2) The Weather Project, by Olafur Eliasson, 2003

Eliasson created a giant sun-like orb inside the museum, accompanied by mist and light effects that altered the space's mood.

Visitors were immersed in a sensory environment that played with their visual perception, touch (with the mist), and the overall atmosphere created by the light and space.

In preparation for the exhibition, Eliasson devised a questionnaire for the employees at Tate Modern that included questions such as: “Has a weather phenomenon ever changed the course of your life dramatically?” “Do you think tolerance to other individuals is proportional to the weather?” “To what extent are you aware of the weather outside your workplace?”

Senses explored in both references: Challenging Visuality

comments

Oscar's feedback after presentation:

Youre trying to do too much, you want to take it from data, translate it, etc etc

Focus first on just one!! and maybe iterate on it

The way that youre getting inspired clashes with the way you get data, your personal way of doing

Develop a garment for each of the people developed with them

Closer and embodied, do the experiments with the people, or use yourself, your own body, and then give it to others

Stronger connections between the bodies and the bodily explorations

Keep it embodied, and if this means designing for either yourself or for others then so be it

Commenter	Comment
Oscar	There might be a tension between the info from the participants and your embodied design process. Can you make them codesigners of the garments/installations?
Anastasia	check the phd of Ricardo o Nascimento and if you need to contact him let us know
Claudia	Also look at https://infi-tex.com/ for etextiles that relates to touch
Nuria	Carolina, interesting project about how we perceive through the five senses. You could get feedback from someone who is lacking a specific sense and have them share how they perceive the stimulus through the other senses they have, to see if any of them experience it differently
Rico	Love the fact that you are pushing away from just visual appeal and addressing other senses. It is super hard to present anything where the visual aspect is not dominant in expressing and projecting ideas. I wonder if one way to ensure that other senses are given the same level of importance...explorations into sensory depravation could help you to fine tune your outcome. Good luck! I am waiting to see your work with great anticipation!