Thalia

 

Design Project 2
Project squad: Crafting Everyday Soft Things
September 2019 – January 2020

In theatre, decor, lights, voice acting, singing, dance and many more each contribute to the overall experience of the visitors. A significant part of theatre consists of conveying the actors’ emotions to the audience. In large theatre productions, voice acting and body gestures are often exaggerated to make up for the fact that people at the back of the audience are located too far to see the facial expressions of the actors or notice subtle body movements.
The goal of this project is to add an extra dimension of emotional expression by developing an article of clothing that reacts to the actor’s voice. To achieve this, an undergarment was created and equipped with multiple LED strips that react to vocal bursts of the wearer. The high visibility of these lights acts as a wow-factor for the visitors’ experience while also serving the purpose of being visible to people sitting at the back of the audience.
Thalia consists of an undergarment that is equipped with dozens of LEDs which are each connected to a Lilypad Arduino with conductive wire. In a theatre production, the audio coming from the microphone can be used to predict the vocal burst of the actor. This is sent to the garment which reacts accordingly.
The undergarment is the base of the design. This is the product that would be sold to producers of theatre plays. Outer garments can be placed on top of the undergarment to seamlessly integrate the lights into the clothing. The outer layer can be fit to director’s wishes. Thus, a modular system is created.
The short, main dress is placed on top of the undergarment and has light patterns that correspond to emotional bursts of screaming and sighing. The long dress shows more light patterns for interesting vocal bursts and is an exploration on the diffusing of light on a long dress. The third dress has a moving collar as a more subtle exploration on other channels for translation of emotional bursts into the change of clothing.
This project was very valuable in the ways in which it showed my designer identity. It made me realize my need for structure to be able to make decisions and showed me my thinker mentality. I also realized a project must be close to my heart or vision. Furthermore, I became aware that capturing a process, for example by using a workbook, helps me forward due to the inspiring power of visuals. The most valuable lesson was found in working together with students from Summa Fashion College Eindhoven, who showed the need for taken decisions and a clear communicatory structure for them to be able to do their part. Working together with people from other disciplines drove our project forwards.
If you would like to know more about our design, please have a look at our final report.