Cambridge wireless bought together fashion designers, electronic engineers, technologists and business specialists, within the cloisters of University College London, for a one day event. The format was a stimulating mix of short presentations and team design projects, the latter stimulating discussions between the various disciplines.
A few highlights from the event were:
- Marina Toeters (by-wire) described her interesting work, including incorporating OLED panels in a dress using a mixture of triangle and squares to get acceptable draping behaviour.
- Francesca from Cute Circuit demonstrated a couple of garments, including the iPhone controlled skirt. It was great to get a close look at the LED integrated panels. These really do fit naturally into a garment and their interconnect technology is superior to others I have seen. No classic wires and the garment is washable at 30 C with detergent and fabric softener.
- Koen van Os from Philips Electronics, showed the integration of blue LED’s into flexible pads. These are key components of phototheraphy, where the lights are shone directly onto the skin, to provide relief for back pain. Koen also announced that Philips was looking to exploit their OLED technology in the area of garment fashion.
Carmen Rodriguez de Gaspar Santos wearing CUTECIRCUIT’s LED jacket and skirt
Koen van Os announcing that Philips will look to develop OLED’s for the fashion market
In the afternoon 9 teams vied to develop the best product idea. The “Happy T-shirt” was the eventual winner; this did not dispense mind altering drugs as the name suggests, but rather tried to improve your immediate environment….
Presentations from the event are here