Toronto Wearables Meetup 12

Wearable Sample
Thursday, February 9, 2012 - 12:00am to 2:00am

Rachael Kess is a fibre student at OCAD University and she wants to start a holistic revolution. Working with the idea that bodies are the one thing that we have in common, Rachael likes to subvert technology in order to engage her viewers/participants in a critical dialogue about how balance can be found between body and technology. She makes masks and puppets using wet/needle felting, weaving and electronics and uses her electro-textile objects in performance, often while naked. Rachael started making masks and puppets in order to connect her teaching/healing practice with her creative practice. When not naked and masked, Rachael teaches yoga and practices Thai yoga massage fully clothed.

Ryan Taylor is a graduate goldsmith, chief designer & co-founder of the Fair Trade Jewellery Company (FTJCo) which by Valentines day 2011 was the only company in North America, and only one of a handful internationally to produce using Fairtrade Fairmined Certified gold. Ryan’s documentary about these metals 'The Last Gold Rush' is available online:

He currently sits as Co-Chair of the Responsible Jewellery Council’s (RJC) Standards Committee which has published the industry’s first Chain of Custody system for Gold & Platinum metals, and has recently taken on the role of Chair for the RJC’s sub-committee on Diamond Chain of Custody.  In March Ryan will continue his work visiting artisanal Diamond miners in Central African Republic & Liberia with the US State Dept. & USAid as part of a program called PRADD (Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development). An initiative much like Fairtrade Fairmined which could improve the lives and rights of workers and their communities.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U, 205 Richmond St. W., Room 7514
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Toronto Wearables Meetup 13

Wearable Sample
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 11:00pm to Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 1:00am

Ariel Garten, Chief Executive Officer, InteraXon

If there ever was a gap between science, art, business and technology, Ariel has closed it. Her work converts the workings of the mind into tangible solutions. Ariel has researched at the Krembil Neuroscience Institute studying hippocampal neurogenesis, displayed work at the Art Gallery of Ontario, DeLeon White Gallery, and designed a clothing line that opened Toronto Fashion Week. The intersections of these diverse interests have culminated into various lectures with topics such as “The Neuroscience of Aesthetics” and “The Neuroscience of Conflict, featured on TVO's Big Ideas.  Referred to as the “Brain Guru” by Now Magazine, CBC Radio and the Toronto Star, Ariel has also run a successful real estate business, spent time as the designer and owner of Canadian fashion boutique, Flavourhall, and is a practicing psychotherapist.

Marie O'Mahony, Professor of Advanced Textiles for Fashion Design, OCAD University

"The Soft Machine – Design in the Cyborg Age" -- The term cyborg was first coined by Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline in 1960 for a man-machine hybrid that would survive in an extraterrestrial environment.  Derived from ‘cybernetics’ (Greek for ‘steersman’) and ‘organism’,  Cybernetics refers to the study of control systems and comparison between artificial and biological systems.  The significance of the human is as host to the technology.  This presentation looks at the origins, motivation and development of the cyborg.  It includes the quest for immortality and artificial life as well as mythologies, prosthetics, portable environments and right up to the most recent research and developments in wearable technologies.

Marie O’Mahony is Professor of Advanced Textiles for Fashion Design at OCADU in Toronto and Visiting Professor at University of the Arts London.   She was previously Professor of Advanced Textiles for Fashion Design at UTS in Sydney where she also served on the Australian Government’s Textile, Clothing and Footwear Industry Innovation Council (TCFIIC) from 2009-2011.  Marie is the author and co-author of five books including Cyborg – the Man Machine (2002), TechnoTextiles2 (2006) and most recent Advanced Textiles for Health and Well-Being (2011) all published by Thames and Hudson.  Exhibitions curated include The Soft Machine – Design in the Cyborg Age at The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and TechnoThreads at the Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U, 205 Richmond St. W., Room 7301
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Toronto Wearables Meetup 14

Wearable Sample
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 - 11:00pm to Thursday, April 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Faye Mullen
Often within a dissection of architectural space, Faye Mullen employs the body to speculate theories concerning absence, loss and limitation.  Her work has been informed by her sculptural practice and is often combined with performance, video and installation. Her phenomenological investigations are articulated through durational and poetic imagery.

Mullen grew up bilingually in the Niagara Region, Canada. She studied studio art with an emphasis in sculpture atl’école National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France and at the Ontario College of Art & Design and University of Toronto where she received her BFA and Masters.

Mullen has exhibited internationally in solo and curated group exhibitions in Paris, Seoul, Portland, Melbourne and Toronto and has participated in international artist residencies in Canada, United States and South Korea.  She is the founder of minnow & bass Gallery, a nomadic artist-run space currently dormant.  Currently, Faye situates her practice in Toronto.

Mike Doell
Mike Doell is a Toronto-based Industrial Designer who recently started working in the field of wearable electronics.  Mike created the iCufflinks and iPendant with Phil Torrone and Limor Fried of Adafruit Industries.  He is currently providing design and manufacturing support to Adafruit Industries on new product development.  Mike has a wide variety of experience in areas such as medical devices, sub-cutaneous implants, and consumer electronics in both design and production.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U, 205 Richmond St. W., Room 7301
Keywords: 

Toronto Wearables Meetup 15

Wearable Sample
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 11:00pm to Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 1:00am

JP Rishea
With over 10 years of experience tinkering with gizmos, gadgets, and doodads, JP Rishea created a small business called Bionic Concepts that sells wearable animatronic and robotic gadgets combining fashion and function.  The line began with powered mechanical wings and later evolved into sci-fi robotic armour and CO2 powered gadgets.  As a child with a strong interest in robotics JP made good use of pneumatic lego actuators to create a small walking robot, a mechanical hand, a joystick controlled mechanical arm, and a lego arm wrestling machine.  Trading lego for plastic and metal JP moved on to larger walking robots and the more marketable gadgets he now sells on his website, including deployable mechanical angel wings, armour with flat panel lights, an arm mounted grappler claw and an exoskeleton gauntlet, to name a few.

Gregory Phillips
Gregory Phillips is a Toronto-based jewellery artist-designer, a graduate of George Brown College's Jewellery Arts program (2006-2009) and OCADU's Material Art & Design program (2012). His background in both traditional, apprentice-modelled goldsmithing and the interdisciplinary approach has spurred his most recent efforts: To synthesize craft, direct digital manufacturing, and the role of the maker in shaping new technologies. An administrator of Wikipedia since 2004, Phillips believes the values shared between the open source and craft communities point to a convergence of purpose ready for exploration.

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Toronto Wearables Meetup 16

Wearable Sample
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - 11:00pm to Thursday, October 25, 2012 - 1:00am

Seth Hardy and Carl Penny - Site3 CoLab
Seth's background in technology is the basis for his focus on what he's told is best described as "industrial and mixed-media interactive sculpture," but is probably better summarized as "giant interactive flamethrower things." He works primarily with fire art and lighting installations that involve physical engagement with technology, providing participants with very personalized experiences. As one of the founders of the community workshop Site 3 coLaboratory, Seth is dedicated to his vision of bringing people in the arts and technology fields together to collaborate, teach, and learn. He also serves on the board of directors for the BurnT OUT Interactive Arts Society, and has an unrelated day job somewhere in there, too.
 
Carl started out as a student of science and technology; now moving to art and design. He mostly creates things that can be worn. Little traditional fabric is used; alternative materials (rubber, metal, plastic, leather) and as many high tech toys (tools) that he can get hands on. Add to this a fascination with LED lights, attention to detail and a bucket of patience.
 
Alex Williams - Upverter.com
Upverter is a design and collaboration platform for students, engineers, designers, inventors, makers and hackers. Upverter makes it easy to design and share electronics on the web.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U, 205 Richmond St. W., Room 7301
Keywords: 

Toronto Wearables Meetup 17

Wearable Sample
Thursday, November 22, 2012 - 12:00am to 2:00am

David Cecchetto, OCAD University
David Cecchetto is an Assistant Professor at OCAD University. He has published a number of chapters and articles, co-edited a collection, and has a monograph titled Humanesis: Sound and Posthumanism forthcoming in 2013 with the University of Minnesota Press. David completed his Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Cultural, Social, and Political theory at the University of Victoria, where his dissertation garnered both the University's and Canada's top honours. As an artist working with sound, he has presented work internationally.

Carol Moukheiber and Christos Marcopoulos, U of T RAD Lab

Carol Moukheiber is Assistant Professor and Director of the Master of Urban Design program at the University of Toronto's Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. She is also co-founder and partner in the architecture practice Studio NMinusOne (n-1). She has previously worked in the offices of SOM, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, San Francisco, New York, and Bruce Mau Design, Toronto. At the domestic scale, her work has focused on the home as an immersive environment – one capable of generating new physical and emotional experiences -- through the enhancement or recalibration of its infrastructure, or set of programs. She is the co-editor of Wild Wild Urbanism, Redesigning California [CCA 2006], and co-author of The Living, Breathing, Thinking Responsive Buildings of the Future [Thames & Hudson]. Her design work has been acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and published widely in academic and mainstream media including Praxis Journal of Architecture, Domus, The New York Times Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. She is the recipient of a Canada Foundation for Innovation grant providing support for the newly launched RAD, Responsive Architecture at Daniels laboratory. Studio NMinusOne has been selected by the New York Architectural League for their Emerging Voices lecture series, 2012.

Christos Marcopoulos is Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto's Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. He is also co-founder and partner in the architecture practice Studio NMinusOne (n-1).  Christos has extensive professional working experience having worked in the offices of OMA, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rotterdam, led by Rem Koolhaas, and SOM, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, San Francisco. His technical expertise has been instrumental in the development of Studio NMinusOne’s projects. His work on the domestic environment has been acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is the co-editor of Wild Wild Urbanism, Redesigning California [CCA 2006], and co-author of The Living, Breathing, Thinking Responsive Buildings of the Future [Thames & Hudson]. His built work has been published widely in academic and mainstream media including Praxis Journal of Architecture, Domus, The New York Times Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. Studio NMinusOne has been selected by the New York Architectural League for their Emerging Voices lecture series, 2012.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U, 205 Richmond, St. W., Room 7301
Keywords: 

Toronto Wearables Meetup 18

Holiday Hacking Logo
Thursday, December 13, 2012 - 12:00am to 2:00am

You are invited to attend the next TWM with a pair of mittens to make some seriously HOT alterations including our “Toasty Digits” self-warming mittens circuit (how else are you going to keep your phalanges warm?), “Seasonal Swiping” touchscreen-compatible fingertips, and our “Nothing’s Gunna Stop Us Now” illuminated mitten sets for friends and lovers!  We will supply materials such as conductive fabric, conductive thread, battery holders, batteries and leds, however if you’d like to construct a fancier circuit then please consider visiting Creatron (255 College Ave.) for a few additional materials:

“Toasty Digits” Self-Warming Mittens requires 1 or 2 small heating pads (Creatron, $7 ea), and a 9V battery
 
“Nothing’s Gunna Stop Us Now” Illuminated Mittens requires Sewable Lilypad LEDs (Creatron, $1 ea), Lily Twinkle (optional, Creatron, $7 ea). 

Don’t forget your mittens (or gloves)!

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Toronto Wearables Meetup 19

Wearable Sample Graphic
Thursday, January 24, 2013 - 12:00am to 2:00am

Jorge Silva, Inclusive Design Research Centre (OCADU) & Komodo OpenLab

Jorge is an Inclusive Tech Developer at the Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University and Technical Lead at OCAD U’s spin-off Komodo OpenLab. As a recovering academic, he codes and lays out circuit board traces to avoid relapsing. Jorge is most proud of his work with Tecla, a set of tools that provides access to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for those who are unable to manipulate them due to disease or disability. Jorge believes open source is one of the best ways to empower marginalized communities to “scratch their own itch” (as he was recently seen preaching at TEDx MontréalQuartierLatin).

Dr. Keryn Lian, Flexible Energy and Electronics Laboratory, University of Toronto

Dr. Keryn Lian is an Associate Professor and director of Flexible Energy and Electronics lab (F.E.E.lab) at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto.  In the F.E.E.lab, Dr. Lian and her students are conducting research on novel materials to enable light-weight, thin, and flexible energy storage and electronic technologies.  Prior to joining UofT, she was a distinguished member of the technical staff and Manager at Motorola Labs, where she conducted and led research in energy storage, RF-MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) and microfluidics with advanced printed wiring board (PWB) technologies.  She has published about 70 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings, and holds 35 issued US patents.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U, 205 Richmond St. W., Room 7301
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Toronto Wearables Meetup 20

Wearable Sample
Thursday, February 28, 2013 - 12:00am to 2:00am

Nick Puckett, OCAD University

Nick Puckett is the founding director of AltN Research+Design, a design practice focused on creating dynamic links between software, robotics, biological agents, chemical engineering, and material behavior that generate new potentials for the design of intelligent environments.  The work of AltN Research has been exhibited in venues including the Venice Architecture Biennale, International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville, and the Art Institute of Chicago.  The work has also been published in the books including Fabricate: Making Digital ArchitectureHyperlinks, and the forthcoming Inside Smart Geometry.  Nick is currently an Assistant Professor in the Digital Futures Initiative at OCAD, and has previously taught within departments of architecture, design, chemical and electrical engineering, and computer science.

Alex Beriault, Artist

Alex Beriault is currently attending her fifth year at OCAD University majoring in Sculpture/Installation art, and pursuing a double minor in Drawing & Painting, and Wearable Technology. Since 2011, and while exploring her art practice, Alex has worked as an art model and has utilized this knowledge to contribute to her philosophies on the discourses of collaborative experience. Throughout her years at OCAD, her work has explored conceptual avenues through performative installation, considering the relationships of the ‘immobilized motilities’ of the human form. Alex attempts to create visual dialogues through the physical merge between the body and the prosthesis, and questions how this unconventional relationship creates interruptions in the perception of self and the interactions with our social surroundings.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U, 205 Richmond St. W., Room 7301
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Toronto Wearables Meetup 21

Wearable Sample
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 11:00pm to Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 1:00am

Francis LeBouthillier, OCAD University

Francis LeBouthillier is a Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist and designer who uses traditional approaches to figurative sculpture along with new technologies to build training devices for the medical industry. Since 1989, Francis has been a Professor at OCAD University, where he is cross-appointed within the Faculties of Art and Design. He chaired the Sculpture/Installation Program from 2007 to 2012.  For the past 10 years, Francis has also designed and manufacturedhigh-fidelity surgical simulators and medical models. Working in collaboration with medical research partners, that include research teams at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, Women's College Hospital, and the University of Toronto's Surgical Skills Lab, he has developed several simulators that are integral to refining the surgical techniques of obstetricians worldwide.

Stacie Vos

Stacie Vos is an intern architect at Cindy Rendely Architexture, a studio with a focus on materiality, craft and detailing, as well as a Researcher for RAD, the Responsive Architecture at Daniels laboratory. She is currently designing and constructing Micro-Environment Gear. Building on current research in wearable computing and the increasing proliferation of self-monitoring health initiatives, this project merges the performance of medical gear with fashion’s affordance for self augmentation and personal expression.  Stacie holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from McGill University.

Mandad Tabrizi, Heal.X Innovation

Originally from Tehran, Iran, Mandad Tabrizi studied Industrial Design at the Ontario College of Arts and Design, where he earned a BDes in 2012. He also has a background in kinesiology and sports medicine. He has won multiple design awards and helped a number of startup companies with their design strategy and user experience challenges. He is currently a participant of Imagination Catalyst incubator at OCADU, where he founded his medical design startup HEAL.X INNOVATION that focuses on orthopaedic immobilization devices for bone fractures and musculoskeletal injuries. His design process is based on a core belief that in order to be able to innovate in any field, we must challenge the things we take for granted.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD U, 205 Richmond St. W., Room 7301
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