comfortBlanket                         2003

was developed to help a defined user ‘make the transition from sleeping to waking up and back to sleep again’

(D&AD Nesta 2003). It used recycled favourite children’s clothes and patchworking to combine familiar materials already imbued with personal meaning, and a crafts process with particularly domestic associations. It was hoped that materiality would be afforded by the many small images in the patchwork, encouraging the social building of narrative between parent and child, and by socio-cultural associations with the technique itself. Three design boards presented the product as a set of specifications, as part of a user scenario, and as a background design concept respectively.

The blanket was conceived of as being part product, part service, involving the consumer in the manufacturing process through their role as supplier of favourite used clothing, which the manufacturer would then use to make up a patchwork blanket unique to the customer, with the sensing technology fabric sandwiched between two outer layers. The user was defined as parents and carers of young children whose sleep is frequently disturbed; sleep deprivation can cause stress and depression, and so while it is the child who is comforted in the first instance, the primary user was seen to be the adult.

papers & articles:

Materiality of wearables - craft and authenticity.pdf  (Pixelraiders)

Materiality of wearables_DJ.pdf (Design Journal)