Wind Reactive Ink Alters Clothing Color Based on Contact with the Air

The air is made up of many different components that are products of our environment, including pollution, moisture, and more. London-based artist Lauren Bowker and her material exploration studio THE UNSEEN have developed a form of ink that's reactive to the different fluctuations in the wind as well as our own body. It's demonstrated in a couture capsule collection entitled Air, which was designed for Swarovski and presented during London's Fashion Week 2014.

The biological and chemical technology is integrated into layers of fabric and transforms its color in response to pressure change. Air‘s nano compounds, inks, and dyes are capable of sensing up to seven stimuli: heat, UV, pollution, moisture, chemicals, friction, and sound. Each element has a different color-altering effect; pollution, for instance, can change between yellow to black. The result is that it translates our environment into a stunning visual representation, where a multi-faceted garment is reminiscent of an insect's iridescent exoskeleton.

THE UNSEEN website
via [designboom]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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