Fendi Fatto a Mano for the Future

2011

with Fendi Artisans, IED Florence

Technology & Making, Wearer & Society

Fendi Fatto a Mano for the Future

Fendi asked Troy to create a live installation where one designer is placed with one artisan to create something magical. The result was two lamps, both Kinect controlled. Both lamps now reside in the Fendi Museum permanent collection in Rome.

As Fendi is a luxury product, for the first lamp a ubiquitous Loris Lamp was selected to connect to the user. Servo motors and textile sensors were added to the lamp to sensitize the structure and make it move. A Kinect camera was added so that the lamp could understand the ambient situation and an Arduino was added to allow for interactive movement. When left alone for too long, the lamp will look up and try to observe other things moving around it. A stroke of the lamp's bell will cause the lamp to return to its original position. An unexpected result was caused by the heating of the metallic structure with the internal lamp. Combined with the soft Fendi leather the lamp behaved like a puppy and evoked a strong sense of empathy.

The second light was a chandelier. LEDs were mounted in the arms of a 9 fold torus. The torus was spun and a Kinect camera was used to regulate the brightness of the LEDs. The further away an object, the more light was cast. This was an initial exploration as how to use a mathematical model to create a complex interaction yet on a programming level it was very simple.

Torus Chandelier Design
Fendi Lamp Installation
Electronics Section