OUTPUT
Social impact
Collaboration between the arts and science affect humans’ everyday life.
Keywords: prototyping, everyday life, future designs
Who?
STARTS Lighthouse Re-FREAM.
Artist and designer: Giulia Tomasello.
The co-creation process was facilitated by Fraunhofer IZM.
What?
Nova Innova’s aim is to inspire others by their collaboration with nature.
ALMA is a collaboration between a variety of professionals (material scientists, medical anthropologists, interaction designers, clothing designers, fashion designers). The project team organized workshops and a survey for women to participate in the conversation and thus gaining permission to collect data on stigma and taboos regarding intimate health. The artistic identity of the project was refined through the co-creation process with 11 international fashion designers.
Why?
ALMA opened a space of innovation, where women can become aware of their own bodies by becoming empowered through technology. The aim is to provoke societal changes by rethinking fashion and technology together.
Results
T. ALMA will continue to build on the results demonstrated by its first pH sensing prototype and co-creation. The prototypes are also proof that collaboration has true value when designing wearable technology for female’s healthcare.
The project delved further into the physiological aspects of the female body, conducting a lot of remote research to understand which under-served health conditions experienced by women could be addressed by Alma.
During the physical co-creation process in Berlin (Fraunhofer IZM), they successfully built a modular design where the technology is embedded in the gusset of the underwear, where the pH sensor is located, and the data is carried through some conductive wires to a small case where the electronics are kept. The prototype even has wireless communication that can potentially allow a woman to access her own information, to know better her body and feel encouraged to seek help when needed.
With Silke, a clothing designer, they investigated the inclusivity of clothing and how the garment itself can be a tool to let women be empowered and feel comfortable with technology that comes very close to their body. They managed to produce four pairs of underwear with two different styles: a 50s style and a basic style.
Sources
Tomasello, G., 2020. ALMA. [online] Re-fream.eu. Available at: https://re-fream.eu/alma/ [Accessed 18 March 2022].
Tomasello, G., Busolo, T., Farina, I. and Mizuta, R., n.d. ALMA. [online] Al-ma.org. Available at: https://al-ma.org/Smart-Underwear [Accessed 18 March 2022].