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evolution
m a g a z i n e
THE QUINTESSENTIAL DESTINATION TO SUSTAINABLE LIVING
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AUGUST 2009 ISSUE 001
FIBER OPTIC GLOVE Designer: Telen Septic
INTERACTIVE SENSIBLE CLOTHING Using your sweater to control your iPod or mobile phone, shirts that check your heart rate, jackets that change color or bags that charge all your gadgets via the sunlight. No, it’s not science fiction; it’s an emerging trend in the fashion industry. For years scientists and innovator developed technologies wanted to merge electronics
and textiles allowing us to use our wardrobe as a source of energy. Since the beginning of time humans beings have used clothing to cover up nudity and protect against natures forces such as different weather conditions and temperatures. Clothing is and has always been used to visualize status, the belonging
Interactive, Sensible Clothing
ERIC ZAINZINGER - contributing technology editor
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to certain groups or to express ones personality yet our clothing is static; it’s not fluid as our lives. One outfit chosen in the morning and we are stuck with it until be get home again to change. Wearable technologies, the ‘magic’ to combine electronic function and clothing is pushing on this paradigm giving our clothing the power to adapt, to interact with us and our environment and adapt to it instantly. Why integrate electronics into clothing? Clothing or bags provide a large area, which can be used to interact with the ever-smaller devices like MP3 players or mobile phones making the operation of buttons for some people almost impossible. Ultimately the integration of some of the electronic functions like user interface such as buttons or displays will allow the elimination of these functions on our devices, making them even smaller, more comfortable to wear and to reduce the duplication of components. For example, owning a mobile phone and an MP3 player means we have two sets of buttons and two displays. Wearable Electronic can help reduce the multiplication of such functions by combining them with a product everyone is using and nobody will leave the house without clothing and a bag. Assuming the upgrade of fashion, the integration of wearable technologies into clothing will follow the same path as any new technology, material and process has shown in the past it will become at one point optimized, affordable and easily accessible. Interactive, sensible clothing will become ubiquitous as our ‘old fashioned’ clothing is today. At this point, our clothing will not only serve the function of covering up our bodies protecting us from unpleasant weather conditions such as cold, wind, and rain, interactive clothing will serve as an information medium as well. Wearable technologies can enhance our sensibility to our environment, acting as a second skin by integrating biometric and environmental sensors into the fabric.
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PROPFOLD CHAIR Designed by Andrew Haarsager
designers studied architecture first, then went on to be an industrial or fashion designer. Do you feel there are similarities? 18:16 are you still there? 18:17 Andrew: Yep - sorry, just thinking how to respond :) 18:18 THINK: Okay, please take your time :) 18:23 Andrew: Of course, there are
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many similarities - designing for either, signals a desire to change a spacial environment - be it a specific one, in the case of architecture, or many environments if you are designing mass-produced products. Both require consideration for engineering, aesthetics, and human instinct and semiotics. Both are ulti-
mately not just the designed object, but the service that the object gives you - they are the interaction you have with it. So yes, in these ways I feel that they are similar. 18:24 Of course, I didn't study architecture, so perhaps I'm not a reliable source of opinion on the matter :) 18:25 THINK: Do you think indus-
Beyond the Tipping Point DIGITAL CONVERSATION - JACQUELINE CARLISLE - editor
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trial design is moving forward, in other words do you think there are distinct designs that reflect the 21st century. 18:26 Andrew:: It's funny - Taschen came out with a book "design for the 21st century," presumably after "Design of the 20th century" sold well and I remember thinking, isn't it a bit early for this?:) 18:29But to answer your question - I think it is safe to say that this part of the 21st century will be remembered as the time we had sort of a cultural awakening. Something that is not stylistic. It's more analogous to the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. It is the time when we realized that our resources are not infinite and started behaving accordingly with our objects and built environment. 18:31 THINK: I have to agree with you re: Taschen it is too early for a retrospective, on the other hand we are 9 years into the 21 century and I for one was starving for significant signs in design that marked the 21st century 18:32 THINK: Would you consider yourself an industrial designer who will take part in the industrial revolution of the 21st century? 18:33 Andrew: Absolutely - it would be reprehensible (not to mention business suicide) not to take part in this 18:37 I believe we've reached the tipping point, where sustainable design no longer has to subscribe to a specific style or appeal to a certain type of person - sustainable thinking is becoming so mainstream that things existing outside it are starting to be perceived as the outlier. And this is something that I believe will only increase as time passes. 18:38 which is good for people like me - we get to design products for everyone! Not just people who are already interested in protecting the earth. :) 18:40THINK: Did you start out wanting to design sustainably? 18:41 Andrew:: Actually no, though interestingly enough I was the president of the "Environmental Club" at my high school 18:42 at the time I didn't see the connection between
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30 | SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
The Car for Green Living WRITER - KJ
MULLINS
THE CAR FOR GREEN LIVING The compressed-air powered AIRPod is the car for green living Designers of the AIRPod took into consideration large cities and the environment when putting their cars on the drawing board. What came from those considerations is a car that is perfect for the city dweller and leaves zero pollution in its wake. Using the Swiss company MDI’s
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engine designs and adapting the technologies to enable an oxygen powered engine to fuel a car, AIRPod is able to do the impossible, use compressed air to power a car. For those who are focused on preserving the environment AIRPod is a dream for consumers. The AIRPod was on display this winter at the International Geneva Motor Show 2009. During the ten
events the MDI stand saw almost 700,000 visitors. Some of those that hit the stand had check books in hand ready to be one of the first to own an AIRPod or at the very least to rent one. According to those who worked the event’s stand on average 200 people wanted their own AIRPod daily. AIRPod is a revolutionary vehicle that takes green living to the streets. The
AIRPOD CAR