MARIA PAULINA GUTIERREZ – AIR Q JACKET


https://paulinamaria1008.tumblr.com/


I am a Fashion designer from Manizales, Colombia based in Bogota, Colombia with experience in dressmaking, sewing, pattern-making and wearable technology, holding a MA degree in interactive design. I have created haute-couture clothing and I have researched about adapting new techniques to the fashion manufacturing chain. In the Academy I have worked as researcher offering workshops and carrying out different practice-based research projects, some of them in the field of wearable technology.


Americanino Denim “leds aleatorios” (2017) https://vimeo.com/235054050
Creation of raincoats DIY with recycled plastic bags (2017) https://issuu.com/parqueexploramed/docs/exploratorio-prog_feb-2017-ajusta
Creation of disposable devices for the detection of air quality (2017) https://issuu.com/parqueexploramed/docs/programaci__n_exploratorio_marzo_20
https://paulinamaria1008.tumblr.com/climatometro%20vestible
AirQ Jacket (2016) https://sonologiacolombia.wordpress.com/lab/airq-jacket/

 

YOUR FAILED PROJECT


This project was created within an academic context. For its development we have researched topics such as: wearable technology, informed territories, Internet of Things and local ecology. This was a dissertation made for the University of Caldas specifically for the Interactive Design Department. Consequently, the purpose of this research is to promote the clothing manufacturing chain to new manufacturing techniques, lifestyles and to encourage user interaction with its local ecosystem.


This project is a result of a  rigorous research made with a theoretical framework focused on WT. On the other hand, during the research process in interactive design and local ecology we have found that Manizales, Colombia is situated in a volcanic area, and also that the automotive market has increase during the past years. Due to these facts, we have created a project that could help local citizens to be aware of scientific Air Quality data through WT experience.


Even though I am a fashion designer, my mainly motivation is to create projects that combine different discipline experiences and where I am able to investigate mathematical, physical, natural or medical problems in order to create innovative solutions for society. Thats what I have found that projects such as the AirQ Jacket are fascinating, because it allows me to expand my crafts and design approaches at different levels.


The AirQ Jacket makes audible and visible scientific Air Quality data. This jacket is made of recycled plastic bags and led color lights, that according to the AirQ alert they can illuminate in (blue-red) or (green-yellow-red). Also it has a sound device that emits AirQ pulse alerts according to the temperature and CO2 data sent by sensors. It is a design that makes allusion to the clothing of industrial and vulcanological protection.


other (describe) Aesthetics: the material of the jacket are somewhat crude. Besides, the electronic circuit has many wires to make the garment wearable.


The crude material and many cables inside the AirQ jacket let me taste the roots of fashion and technology. Also I could learned to outline e-textiles experimental routines, as well as record photos of the process, keep the routines in written, in video or gif format. Today I rely on my trials and errors and can apply them to each project-based-design on making of clothing, this allows me to focus my practice and research just on e-textile topic.


Currently, this project is still in progress. I’m working to find solutions to improve an everyday wearable device for citizens to be aware of the environment. I am working to find solutions to improve the circuit aesthetic, in order to make the e-textile surface more functional and wearable, also how the e-textile surface could translate data that allows AirQ alert communication with the user.


Thanks to the aesthetic and circuit design failures, I have been able to outline e-textiles experimental routines in order to give solutions to questions such as: How the surface is connected to other types of electric actuators?, How to continue embedding the circuits through the different layers of the textile?, How to conduct electricity without so much weight on the fabric of clothing?, and How to be able to take out the circuits in order to make the textile washable?

 

ON E-TEXTILES


What make e textile subject matters I found this topic fascinating and appropriate since I am able to access from anyplace to the DIY tutorials and information through the internet. Also, I am able to create magical products that emerge during the practice process because It is a subject that is being updated all the time according to what is being shared, and could be constructed and modified while you upload and share information through different media channels.


The e-textiles have become really interesting to fashion and interactive design, because they go beyond the normal fabric uses transforming the traditional characteristics of cloths like assign specific technological characteristics, such as augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) options. For example, when trying to activate by sound or put the device below the material you will be able to project any information through the fabric or through de device.


I really believe that this subject goes hand in hand with computer’s evolution and with some other related disciplines such as: medicine, natural sciences, contemporary dance, data perceptualization, soft computing and fashion communication. And so, according to my perception, the e-textile future should adopt the story telling through the developments of softwares and hardwares in order to adjust the e-textile design to a day-to-day life experience.