Assignment 1: A Foldable Lamp

By anonymous student

The intention of this project was to create a soft circuit. Initially my mind was stuck in the paradigm of TEXTILES = FASHION, but I don't know much about fashion so for me the equation changed to INTEGRATED TEXTILES = ???. The applications seem endless: furniture, cars, linens, personal accessories, soft robots, etc! But I needed something simple to learn more about the details of sewing circuits:

I often wish I could set the lighting in my environment. The problem is that most lights are cumbersome, delicate, and require a power source. Not to mention that I would look foolish carrying a 15lb. Luxo lamp around with me all the time. So why not make a fabric lamp? A lamp that could be folded up, put in my pocket, and taken to the library!

To turn the light of the tail is placed between the magnetic switch and the battery. This forces the shade to be slightly tilted and physically communicate its state. It was also quite nice to work with 100% wool felt: it sews very well and provides great haptic and visual quality.

In the future I would use much brighter LEDs for this project. I have ordered some bright white devices that I plan to wire into the project in order to provide more light. Also, the pressure sensor is currently working as an analog switch. With a little more development it could be utilized to provide a dimming function. Unfortunately, the LEDs are not bright enough to give that luxury.