Our friends from Canatu will be around at our WT | Wearable Technologies Conference 2015 – Fashion Edition in Milan on April 29. Don’t miss their presentation on bendable sensor tech at the conference but first check out our interview with speaker Titus Suck.
What is the most important thing you learned while being involved in the topic of wearable technologies?
Basically, there appears to be a relative shortage of ideas as to what a wearable product could be or look like; much of what is currently in the market could be called ‘geek chic’, and would not really address a large consumer market. Equipping a watch with a touch screen is inherently limited due to the small size of the screen…and the challenge would be to extend the UI into the arm band in a meaningful way. Designers need to actually think about transforming ‘functional devices’ such as activity trackers into attractive fashion-driven accessories (similar to what happened with basketball sneakers). The relative fixation on smart watch and wrist-worn devices also would seem to inhibit new thinking. Connectedness may be a better and more relevant angle – if one wants to go beyond extending existing product? Ultimately it is not clear to me that display and wearable device need to be one and the same – especially when this is thought from the ‘connectedness’ side of things.
How can your company help bringing the world of fashion and the world of technology closer together?
Flexible UI based on a flexible conductive film enables virtually total design-freedom when it comes to form. The integration of capacitive touch sensors with plastic moulding technologies actually allows not only 3D shapes but also the extensive use of graphic inks to create fashionable items that can work as accessories with clothing. 3D shapes do not need to be clunky or bulky, and hi-value graphic inks (glossy surfaces) can easily create visually attractive as well as functional IOT devices that record, monitor, scan, take pictures, etc. – store the data in the cloud and display them on command to a smart phone, tablet, laptop or other mobile device – which could be a display surface on a handbag, credit card, actually.…
Interested in the technology? Read our interview with Canatu’s CEO here.
