Clothing design piece using ynvisible technology wins award at the 20th International Symposium on W

The “Solar Shirt”, designed by Paula Roinesalo and Lasse Virtanen, from the University of Lapland in Finland, was awarded one of three prizes from the Design Exhibition at the 20th International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC), in Heidelberg, Germany, winning the “Aesthetic” category prize. The prizes were provided by Intel.

The “Solar Shirt” is a wearable computing concept in the area of sustainable and ecological design. It utilizes an ynvisible electrochromic display integrated as part of a couture clothing design. According to Lasse: “The level of ambient sound is indicated by changes in the pattern displayed. The piece aims to reflect the values of the arctic region, via its use of natural materials, such as reindeer hide, and its emphasis on the silence of the arctic environment.”

Paula, Lasse and other researchers in prof. Jonna Häkkilä's team from the University of Lapland are currently working on the Naked Approach Project (Nordic perspective to gadget-free hyperconnected environments), a vision-driven project towards a significant paradigm shift in the relationship between humans/users and the digital world: a change from a gadget­-centric to a user-centric, gadget-free “Naked” ­digital interface. The project consortium is composed of several Finnish research institutions, including VTT and different universities.

For more information on the award: http://iswc.net/iswc16/index.html%3Fp=751.html

For more information on the “Naked Approach” project: http://nakedapproach.fi/

For more information on ISWC: http://iswc.net/iswc16/index.html