Interview: SXSW panelist Alison Lewis

Alison Lewis is all about tech meets fashion meets real life. Her blog, I heart switch, covers lighted high-heals, sequined dresses with solar cells that double as cell phone chargers, twitter dresses, and skyping roombas. For the full walking-talking Alison experience, check her out on Verizon FiOS’s television show MyHome2.0

Jana: In the New York times article on your work, it mentioned you learned to sew at age 4, and made a pair of pants that you wore in the sixth grade, so you have a long background in DIY. Your 'Closer' project when you graduated from Parsons seems like a natural continuation of that, but how did you first become inspired to combine technology with crafting and fashion?

Alison: I was always a designer, my mom can attest to that. I used to sit and draw floor plans and create mood boards even when I was like 5 or 6. Later, when studying interior architecture at ASU, I learned CADD, did graphic design, and thought Bill Viola's video installations were god-like creations. BUT, the first time I saw an interactive garment was when I started looking for graduate schools. I did searches for schools that mixed design and technology and ended up visiting Parsons. While there, I sat in on a Physical Computing class where the students presented garments that inflated and moved, responsive fashion for blind children with vibrating motors, dressed up robots, and some attempts at making pretty lighted jewelry. All the things I've been doing for years, designing, crafting, DIYing, painting, and graphic design just floated together for me and working in fashion or textile tech just felt like home. When you get a feeling like that - you hold on to it. Then, I thought the thought that changed my life and my goals forever "why in hell didn't anyone show me this before?" and that was it. I've never looked back and I knew that I had truly found my passion and my calling. I am going to teach the world about the magic of technology and design, challenge them with new creations, and open the minds of disbelievers to the wonder of crafting with tech.

cover of Switch Craft: Battery-Powered Crafts to Make and Sew

Jana: SXSW Interactive is basically seen as a way for visionaries for the future to interact -- most typically, the panels are about technology on a computer, or now, on mobile devices and how they work and their impact on society and business. This is a bit different, and really interesting to me as a woman who crafts and works in technology -- do you see this as the crafting for the 21st century, or is it more than that?

Alison: Great question and a somewhat difficult one for me to answer, but let me try my best. First, my philosophy is that electronics is the next natural progression in craft. Second, I as well as many others are working to breakdown the boundaries that keep women from working with technology. Finally, with this two ideas in mind, I feel that the crafting, making, and citizen science communities are where people will be seeking and finding innovation for other areas of interests, like for interacting with the web outside of the computer. Looking forward, I don't see us totally loosing the screen, but designing just for the screen will change. There are already programs you can write and just hold up your circuit to your screen to program it - Aniomagic - and people are designing their own interactive gloves and iPod controllers through electronic craft. We will not be satisfied with just a screen in the future - we're going to want much more integration with our physical space.

Jana: Fashion and home design are part of I heart Switch, so it seems to really be a very DIY, but high-tech, way of doing things the way they were before mass consumer culture became the way we decorated our homes and got our clothes. Do you see this as something of a social revolution, especially in light of the downturn of the economy where people are maybe looking at new ways of saving money?

Alison: I don’t think it’s a social revolution, its more of a gentle transformation to find some sort of balance between tech and the home-made. For instance, fashion technology has been around longer than people realize. Diana Dew created lighted disco garments in the late 70s, for instance. So for me, trends kind of ebb and flow and try to find balance. In the early 60s we thought high tech garments and materials would be perfect (Paco Rabanne) all while we ran around in hippie clothes and did macramé. Then, as we went to the early 70s there was this massive sewing and crafting backlash. I think I've seen a million fiber arts from that time period of brown, orange and grey. (not my favorite). There were many sewing and knitting rooms back then too, but in the end we wore polyester and workout gear (sony walkman for instance). This for me is where the blending of manufactured and the natural started to happen. For example we started blending our cottons with polys to make for a more comfortable fit.

Like I said, it may be that now we are trying to find some sort of balance between that high-tech totally manufactured world and the one we can craft and create ourselves. Both have their benefits and downfalls, but maybe just maybe - we can level up and kick the electronic industry into high gear by challenging them to create with some old school crafting techniques. If they do, our garments can be fully enhanced and many of our appliances and decorations may feel a little more "homey" and personal than they are now. I am personally trying to get a grasp on what people are wanting to accomplish with electronically integrated fashions and homes, what do they see the future being like? I haven’t gotten a solid answer yet.

Jana: I've checked out a few episodes of My Home 2.0 -- those projects looks like so much fun. What has been your favorite aspect of working on the show or your favorite tech-makeover project through the show?

Alison: Oh gosh. Well, I just love the whole idea of the show. Adding personalized technology into someone's home is truly innovative and I hope the show takes off. As for my favorite home, it is so hard to say. I loved making the wall harp for the Words because it became a part of their creative space. The next favorite is with the Porters. The family has this warm loving feeling around them and you could tell they really loved and supported each other, it was very moving. We put a FEED (FiOS Enabled Emotion Detection) system in their home. I worked closely with guru Lloyd's programming to ensure seamlessness in to the space. There are two paintings on the wall, but when someone plays against anyone on the online video games, the system detects the mood of the opponent and the innate paintings suddenly come to life with color. Really fantastic!

Lastly, I just finished up an episode in Florida. I got to work with Mark Montano, the writer of The Big Ass Book of Crafts, and working with a quality designer like that just makes the entire integration so much better. I can't give away what we did, but is beautiful, totally seamless with the design, and absolutely a great way for the family to stay connected with their loved ones. You'll have to wait and see!

Jana: What about in your own home -- what has been a favorite project lately or a new one that you have planned?

Alison: To be honest, after the redo of the living room, I am trying to figure out what to do with the large space between the living room and the kitchen. Its kind of like an entry but not and it doesn't feel right to put a table. I've got a few plans for it, but I have to get past my landlord, he was so upset with all the changes I made to the living room. So I put that idea aside and I am working on small upgrades to my wardrobe, for instance some lighted heels in recognition of Rodarte's lighted shoes for Fall 2010.

Jana: Technology is seen as a man's world, more than even business these days. One of the questions on the SXSW website for your panel was' why does getting girls involved in technology matter to our quality of life?' In my experience, seemed that even very competent and intelligent and otherwise confident women seem to be intimidated by the use of technology. Do you think that by discussing technology and encouraging the use of it in domains where many women are more comfortable and confident that it will encourage women to become more confident in their understanding and usage of computers and mobile phones?

Alison: Not to be brash, but I don't care much if they learn to use their mobile phones. That is something the mobile phone and computer companies want from them. It may make them more knowledgeable about how the phone works and they may even research the difference between 3G and 4G someday. But, it's more likely that women will start thinking about how that phone is used and start to critique it a bit more and start to critique it a bit more and maybe even eventually design their own phone for women. Wouldn’t that be nice?

As you can see, I want to inspire the attitude that the crafts and skills we have as women (have had for hundreds of years) are extremely viable in the technology sector. This idea alone is powerful enough to spark some innovation and questions in women. We need to start thinking about how objects are designed for us and start asking why they are designed that way. Start seeing where we can make the changes and have more control over the products and activities we choose to share with technology. I could rant about this all day -- but to be honest I am truly stepping into some unknown territory. We don't exactly know what bringing thousands of new women into technology will do, and I am not sure we can totally understand the implications. I just trust my gut, and my gut says, "more girls need to be in technology because we need their vision and they need to be a part of the creation of the products they are using."

Jana: Intro tech classes and after school programs are also mentioned in the questions for your SXSW panel. What approaches to technology do you think would be most successful with pre-teen and teenage girls, groups that have been causes of concern in technology and science education?

Alison: Some of that I'll have to leave for the talk. But, my favorite approach is with Fashion and Design Shows. I like to do these "fashion hacks" where we inspire the girls to create with the skills and tools I've shared with them and put it into a currently made garment. They can hack and sew and tear and get their hands dirty and they are not staring a robot when they are done. In the end they are wearing their creations, dancing, laughing, showing off and being playful. That is the response you want, it breaks down barriers for everyone.

I also think its important to show them the great designers using technology, like Hussein Chalayan and Paco Rabanne and Gucci and Rodarte and the small independent designers like Diana Dew, the Aphrodite Project and more. It is a wonderful mind-opening experience, but it has to be delicate… no GEEK SPEAK or over focus on the properties of a wire. Teach them how to make the cool projects and usually, they begin to ask technology related questions without even knowing it. Their want to show off and impress and learn takes over almost any fear. If there are any fears left, they are the ones that society and schools instill in them like being afraid to fail or tear something a part. I try to break that idea -- failure = success and tearing things apart = learning whats inside.

Alison relaxing with the Twittering Teddy project from MYHome2.0
(http://vimeo.com/1151724)

Come join us for Alison's panel at SXSW:

Duh...It's Like Tech for Girls
Monday, March 15 at 11:00 AM
http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/487