Fabbing

From the idea to the prototype with the help of open design

At the end of July I spent a week at Supsi with Massimo Banzi and around 20 participants at the Physical & Wearable computing with Arduino summer school. The focus of the course was on the design and prototyping of digitally fabricated interactive objects. It was the first time I was working with Massimo and some weeks before I shared with him the approach I had in mind. Usually, wearable technology workshops start from ready-made garments or accessories. Old gloves and t-shirts, cheap belts or jackets are “decorated” with technology. I wanted to experiment a different point of view. I would have brought some rough prototypes of wearable accessories made of felt and produced with a lasercut. I prepared the files during the previous months with the help of professional tailor Nadia – who knows much about measures and fit, and Vectorealism, my partners at Wefab – who gave me direct access to the lasercut to prepare the first drafts.

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The future of knitting

(Segue in italiano) When a couple of years ago I got interested in the development of the first open-source loom and interviewed Margarita Benitez of Osloom I suddenly realized the potentiality of weaving, knitting and crocheting in terms of modularity and flexibility. Now i’d like to present you two other projects that got my attention. They are not open-source, they are proprietary projects, but they show us how companies are researching and investing in new patented technologies that are revolutionizing the field. Start with watching these videos. the first is a glance on the Nike’s Flyknit technology and the second is a short interview with the designers who developed it. They show us the first example of the knitting of one piece of trainer uppers using flat and circular knitting technologies. The shoe weights only 160 grams and has multiple yarns of varying properties! Nike Flyknit technology film from Darrin Crescenzi on Vimeo. If you want to know more technical

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Perché ho chiesto a Passera e Profumo un FabLab in ogni città

Articolo originariamente pubblicato su CheFuturo Ne sono certa, ci sono tante cose che possiamo fare per innescare la rivoluzione di cui abbiamo bisogno. L’articolo di Massimo Banzi è un’altra prova del fatto che l’innovazione in Italia non sia un fantasma. Anche io qualche giorno fa ho lanciato una proposta all’interno della discussione pubblica per l’Agenda Digitale Italiana: creare un Istituto per la Manifattura Digitale. Il suo compito? Finanziare e pianificare per i prossimi 10 anni l’apertura di laboratori d’innovazione focalizzati su open design, manifattura sostenibile e artigianato digitale. Potete commentare l’idea e votarla se siete d’accordo. So cosa volete chiedermi: ma in un paese come l’Italia un istituto del genere serve davvero? Sì, perché investire su creatività e tecnologia rappresenta un’opportunità che non possiamo ignorare ma, allo stesso tempo, non è un’impresa facile. L’entusiasmo con cui vengono raccontate le storie di innovazione e startup a volte ricorda un po’ la retorica dei “due cuori e una capanna”. Nel caso delle

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Markus Kayser: Sun and desert in the industry of tomorrow

Article originally published on Digicult – Articolo originariamente pubblicato su Digicult   “I see no future without technology, but even future without nature, they must find a balance at some point.” This is the statement by Markus Kayser, German designer with a studio in London, who with his latest project Solar Sinter, has won the Arts Foundation Fellowship 2012 (http://artsfoundation.co.uk/Artist-Year/2012/all/318/Kayser) for the Product Design category and was shortlisted for the prestigious Design of the Year 2012 sponsored by Desing Museum of London (http://www.designsoftheyear.com/category/genre/product/product -2012/page/2/). With Solar Sinter, Markus found a meeting point between technology and nature, going behind the process of creation of objects: sun, heat and sand. In addition to the marriage between technology and nature, he has also found a link with the history and the origins of the creation of glass objects, which have appeared in Egypt since ancient times. The idea is simple: the sand in the Egyptian desert is mainly silica, ie when heated to a certain temperature it melts and is transformed into glass, once it has

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Jam Session with Fold Slippers

Last weekend Openwear participated in collaboration with Vectorealism to the Physical Computing event organized by PhyCoLab of the “Politecnico di Milano” University and hosted by StreetStudio. While we were challenging our traditional notion of craft experimenting on lasercutting felt and vector illustration with our Fold Slippers pattern, a group of 40 people were participating to the 36-hours Jam Session to design and prototype interactive ideas. Eight groups of students, tinkerers, designers and makers put their hands on different tools and components with the aim of presenting their prototype projects at the end of the weekend after 36 hours of non-stop work. The project I’m featuring in the pictures of this post is the most voted one on sunday night. I’m not talking about it only because it won the prize but also because the creators inserted the Openwear Fold Slipper as a component of their game. Yes, it’s a game, a mix between Simon and Twister. It uses touch sensors

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