twenty1f: fashion for the 21st century

A breast-screening smart bra which allows users to detect breast cancer at the earliest stage is being developed by the Centre for Materials Research and Innovation (CMRI) at the University of Bolton.

Professor Elias Siores, inventor of the smart bra, says it can detect cancer before the tumour can develop and spread into the surrounding areas. It can also evaluate the effectiveness of any breast cancer treatment its wearer is undergoing.

The bra is being developed with support from international partners. Professor Siores says he expects the bra to go into manufacture within the next couple of years.

The smart bra works using a microwave antennae system device which can be easily woven into the fabric of the bra.

The antennae picks up any abnormal temperature changes in the breast tissue, abnormalities associated with cancer cells. Information about each breast is collected and transferred via conducting polymers. A separate controller unit analyses the information and sets off an alarm if the normal breast tissue temperature is exceeded.

Said Prof Siores, Director of CMRI:

‘Early detection gives women more confidence in the preliminary assessment stage and those with breast cancer the highest survival prognosis.

‘The cancer detection is based on the principle that metabolic activity and vascular circulation in both pre-cancerous tissue and the area surrounding a developing breast cancer is almost always higher than in normal breast tissue.

‘This process results in an increase in regional internal and external temperatures of the breast. The microwave antennae has high sensitivity and can detect these temperature variations, which are the earliest indications of the breast cancer and/or a pre-cancerous state of the breast.’

Smart bra data will be easy to interpret for the wearer since the audible and/or visual alarm will alert them to the potential need for further medical expert diagnosis and assessment.

Said Prof Siores: ‘There are no health risks associated with this form of passive microwave technology. It is not only very safe but also very cost effective. We would not expect the unit cost to be much above the average cost of a traditional bra.’

The university’s partners in the smart bra’s development are: RES Ltd, Russia; Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Association (ITKIB); the Greek national health service, IKA, and the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC).

TAGS: antenna, bolton, bra, breasts, cancer, fabric, health

posted by : regine on 31 Oct 2007

Australian researchers are developing shirts that will generate electricity whenever the wearer moves. The shirts would directly power mobile telephones, portable music players and other small electrical appliances.

Leader of the CSIRO project, Dr Adam Best, predicted the first power shirts - or flexible integrated energy devices - could be developed within five years.
The secret behind the idea involves piezo electrical materials. “Whenever you bend or deform piezo electrical material it creates an electrical charge.”

If a shirt could be woven from the fabric, the constant vibration would “produce electricity as you move”.

The power would be fed into flexible batteries that would also be woven into the shirt. Appliances, including mobile phones and palm pilots could then be plugged into the shirt.

The technology could revolutionise appliances such as mobile phones. By adding printed flexible circuit boards, they, too, could be woven into clothing.

“We see no reason why you couldn’t do that,” said Dr Best, saying the day may not be far off when people could make phone calls simply by talking into their collars.

The flexible integrated energy device is one of eight advanced research projects chosen by the Defence Department for funding under its Defence Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program.

Dr Best predicted soldiers could use the shirts to power radios and electronic devices carried on modern battlefields. Such smart clothing could also power “back-to-base” medical monitoring equipment used by the elderly and the ill.

While the initial Defence Department funding was only aimed at seeing whether such a shirt would work, latter research, requiring an investment partner, would seek to develop a shirt light and comfortable enough to be worn. To be a commercial success it would have to be no heavier than a woollen jumper and would need to be washable - problems the researchers are yet to solve.

The team includes Dr Richard Helmer, of the CSIRO’s textile and fibre technology division in Geelong, who has been leading another project to develop a musical shirt. The wearer only has to strum the motions, as if playing an air guitar, to beat out a tune.

“We are using some of the technology he has put into his air guitar,” said Dr Best, who believed Australia was leading the world in power-shirt research. Flexible integrated energy devices would change the way people shop. “Instead of buying that mobile phone, you would buy a funky shirt that does the same thing.”

TAGS: australia, batteries, devices, energy, piezo-electrical, power, research, shirt

posted by : regine on 29 Oct 2007

The Museum of Science Boston will present the 3rd SEAMLESS: Computational Couture in 2008. Co-produced by the Museum of Science, Christine Liu and Amanda Parkes, the show will take place at the Museum of Science on Wednesday, January 30, 8pm. This year the show will be a living exhibition of fashion, an event combining the fun and glamour of a runway show with the personal engagement of interactive installations.
We are looking for fashion design which pushes the boundaries of technology — computational & conceptual couture & wearables, fashion with a social agenda concerning technology (although may not have embedded technology), and fashion produced using algorithmic fabrication or innovative manufacturing techniques. Because of the exhibition format, it will also be possible to show architectural textile installations, we are also open to submissions in this category.

Here’s how it will work: at the start of the event, we will announce and present the designers as they enter with models wearing their garments, kind of an informal runway entrance to let the audience know what work is present. Instead of the traditional runway, we will be using escalators to bring models and designers down two floors to the area where the living exhibition will be held. The designer/models pairs will then head to selected areas, hang out and interact with attendees, showing, discussing and demonstrating their works. The format and degree of interactivity will be up to the designers. We hope that this format will allow attendees a better way to experience the pieces up close and will give them a chance to understand the depth– in concept, construction or technical means—of the designers’ intentions, something that can be lost in a
traditional runway setting. However, this presentation method still allows the pieces to be shown in action and ‘embodied’ with live models.

The event will also feature professional photography and videography (available for use royalty free after the show) and professional models.

GUIDELINES:
——————-
1. Designer (or designer’s representative) must be available to attend Tuesday, January 29 dress rehearsal at the Museum of Science Boston and the Wednesday, January 30 event.
2. Each designer will be given a small honorarium.
3. Students and emerging designers are especially encouraged to submit.
4. if selected, designers must commit to completing their design and participating at the show/dress rehearsal in person.
5. Submitted works should be functional (not concept projects) and able to be withstand some level of demonstration by the time of the show.
6. Designs must be able to be worn on an escalator as the models make their entrance. If this is problematic, please let us know.
7. Please email your submission as a single PDF (photos embedded) to: seamless@mos.org .
8. Video can be sent separately or can be viewed by us on a website, send the URL.

WHAT TO SUBMIT:
————————–
Title of work
Names and email addresses of designers
Brief description (not to exceed one page, one paragraph is fine)
Photos (if available, if not, a sketch),
Video (if available)
Method of Display preferred for party interaction (worn by model, worn by designer, static on mannequin, tried on by audience, etc, can be changed and negotiated closer to event)
Model specifications (sex, sizing, height, shoe size, coloring, any preferences, etc)
Images of past work or a link to your website

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 5PM EST

The submissions will be committee reviewed and you will receive a notification by mid-December (at the latest).

You may also email with questions before the submission deadline.
Write to seamless@mos.org

For more information, photos and media from the previous seamless shows.

TAGS: boston, call, catwalk, submission

posted by : regine on 27 Oct 2007

A few really nice projects are shown on the Campus 2.0. of ars electronica. One that particularly stands out is Gelsomina by Magdalena Kohler and Hanna Wiesener, two students from the UDK (university of the arts) in Berlin.

How does it feel when a sweater becomes a medium with which to record your own voice? Gelsomina, the voice knitting machine, makes it possible to transfer individual vocal melodies to a piece of clothing so that they become visible in the different varieties of knitted patterns.

The fashion designer and the product designer worked together to hack a knitting machine from the ’70s. Just say a message into a microphone and the frequency of your voice is analyzed by a computer and turned into binary code that the machine will interpret to control 24 servo-motors which will turn your words into knitted pattern. And hop! You can wear an individual voice message on a sweater. No one will understand the message, it will stay in your head. The pattern doesn’t just depend on the words but it varies also according to your modulation, whether you are excited or totally introverted. And of course wearing your voice is quite intimate so you might probably want to keep the garment just for you or offer it to someone you love.

Magdalena and Hanna have even partnered with an industrial knitting company to produce a line of clothing that are made to be worn very close to your skin. Starting in November, it will be possible to leave your message via the internet.

More images.

TAGS: ars electronica, berlin, knitting, machine, message, sound, voice

posted by : regine on 25 Oct 2007

A new type of carbon fibre, developed at the University of Cambridge, could be woven into super-strong body armour for the military and law enforcement.

The researchers say their material is already several times stronger, tougher and stiffer than fibres currently used to make protective armour.

The lightweight fibre, made up of millions of tiny carbon nanotubes, is starting to reveal exciting properties.

Carbon nanotubes are hollow cylinders of carbon just one atom thick.

The new material was developed by a group at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at Cambridge. It has emerged from efforts to create the world’s strongest man-made fibre.

“These nanotube fibres possess characteristics which enable them to be woven as a cloth, or incorporated into composite materials to produce super-strong products,” said Professor Windle.

For body armour, the strength of fibres in a fabric is a critical parameter. Strain-to-failure - in other words how much the material can extend before it breaks - is another.

The fibre created in Cambridge is very strong, lightweight and good at absorbing energy in the form of fragments travelling at very high velocity.

Carbon nanotube filaments are lightweight but very, very strong
“Our fibre is up there with the existing high performance fibres such as Kevlar”, said Professor Windle.

But he added: “We’ve seen bits that are much better than Kevlar in all respects”.

The work at Cambridge has already attracted interest from the UK Ministry of Defence and the US Army.

But the new material could also find applications in the area of hi-tech “smart” clothing, bomb-proof refuse bins, flexible solar panels, and, eventually, as a replacement for copper wire in transmitting electrical power and signals.

The method for making the fibre is simple but ingenious.

A hydrocarbon feedstock, such as ethanol, is injected into the furnace along with a small amount of iron-based catalyst.

Inside the furnace, this feedstock is broken down into hydrogen and carbon. The carbon is then chemically “re-built” on particles of iron catalyst as long, thin-walled nanotubes.

“It makes particles of carbon that are like smoke. But because the nanotubes are entangled, the smoke we make is elastic,” explains Professor Windle.

To the eye, this “elastic smoke” looks a bit like an ever-expanding dark “sock”.

To begin winding it up, a rod is inserted into the furnace from below to grab one end of the sock and yank it down. This stretches the sock into a filament that can be wound up continuously on a reel.

The researchers are currently seeking funds to investigate whether the method can be upgraded from a laboratory to an industrial process.

Cambridge Enterprise Limited, the commercialisation office of the University of Cambridge, filed an initial patent application in July 2003.

It has now granted a licence to Q-Flo Limited, a university spin-out company, which will exploit the technology.

Nanotubes are made from graphite which is - along with diamond - one of two common forms carbon takes in nature. In graphite, carbon atoms are bonded in hexagon structures to form flat layers that are stacked on top of one another like sheets of paper.

To make nanotubes, scientists take individual graphite layers and fold them over so they join at either edge to form cylinders.

TAGS: armour, cambridge, fibres, military, nano, nanotechnology, nanotubes, protection, research

posted by : regine on 25 Oct 2007

V2_Lab, the artistic Research & Development (aRt&D) department of V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, has a vacancy for a 2 month artist-in-residence on Wearable technology in the period 15 January - 15 April 2008.

Deadline 1 December 2007

V2_Lab is a workspace for artists, scientists and technicians emphasizing the encounter and exchange between different disciplines. Main areas of the V2_Lab’s aRt&D are: Interactivity and Alternative Interfacing, Wearable Technology, Virtual Reality, Multi-user Environments.

Theme
The last few years have seen many exciting new developments in the field of wearable technology. However, the impact of these developments on everyday design practices has so far not reached the level anticipated. This can, at least partly, be attributed to the fairly limited generic quality of most of these new developments. Typically, promising new wearable technologies are developed for one specific implementation and then never again used because of the large efforts required to re-implement the developed technology in new projects.

On the basis of this observation, V2_Lab chose to develop the telematic technology used to realise the recently finished Soft(n) project in a generic way. Resulting in technology that is easy to generalize to a great variety of possible implementations of wearable artistic expressions.

The wearable technology components available for this residency are based on a custom daughterboard for the Gumstix embedded computing platform and custom firmware called SIOS (Sensor Input/Output System), developed at V2_Lab. It allows for versatile sensor and actuator development, while the use of open standards for communication, such as OSC and Apple’s Bonjour, keep the platform accessible to many different applications.

V2_Lab is now looking for new and innovative uses of the SIOS technology in order to further develop its uses and capabilities. Therefore, V2_lab calls for artist-in-residency proposals describing an artistic Research & Development project on wearable technologies, preferably in relation to smart textiles.

Conditions
The artist receives:
- grant up to 4.000,- EUR;
- free lodging;
- technical support in research and realisation;
- access to technical equipment (time planning depending on availability);
- travel expenses up to 250 EUR;

The residence has a duration of 8 weeks max and should take place between 15 January 2008 and 15 April 2008

The deadline for application is 1 December 2007 and we expect applicants to fill out the attached application form. Incorrect or incomplete forms are not taken into consideration.

The application form is downloadable on www.v2.nl.

Additional information
www.v2.nl
http://trac.v2.nl/wiki/Sios
http://trac.v2.nl/wiki/MoveMe

TAGS: call, netherlands, opportunity, research, residency, rotterdam

posted by : regine on 24 Oct 2007

Found a great video clip w/interview voice-over of Hussein Chalayan and his spring 07 show.

TAGS: chalayan, dress, electronics, LED, motion

posted by : beverly on 22 Oct 2007

Hussein Chalayan’s recent show for his Spring 08 collection included a screening of a film shot by Nick Knight. The dresses at the end of the film were made using hundreds of servo motor driven lasers and Swarovski crystals extending the dresses visually into space.

TAGS: chalayan, dress, laser, light, paris, show, Swarovski

posted by : beverly on 22 Oct 2007