Everlasting light

In our first week back at college we received another Concept and Storyboarding brief - Innovative Design. More storyboards meant more mounting.. our least favourite activity now after cutting 9 to 18 boards during our holiday BUT the theme was quite interesting. I had a lot of fun trying to come up with a Transformative and an Interactive Design for these storyboards. 


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For these designs I was inspired by Mother Nature herself. The Yellow Coneflower (most commonly known as Echinacea Paradoxa) was my biggest influence with its yellow petals and central brown/black, cone-like mass of disk florets. 

These plants are used for medicinal purposes such as boosting the immune system and helping the body fight infections.

It is a perennial species of flowering plants in the genus Echinacea. Echinacea paradoxa is native to Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, as well as Texas, and is listed as threatened in Arkansas. It grows in a very harsh environment and so, is an endangered species nowadays. 

The prairies and woodlands (grassy openings in forests) can be extreme habitats with sub-zero temperatures during the winter and extremely hot during summer causing these flowers to suffer.

The reason behind the use of this inspiration is to raise awareness and to show you just how beautiful this rare plant is. 

These 3 images (above) inspired me the most for my Transformative design. The way the petals curl up and curl down has everything to do with sunlight.

This design uses miniature solar panels implanted in the centre of the fabric flowers sewn to the corseted bodice as well as at the top of each yellow fabric “petal” hanging down the front, back and sides of the dress. 

Batteries are inserted underneath the fabric flowers as well as the petals so that when direct sunlight hits the solar panels, it will charge the batteries and so, the flowers will open and the curled petals will drop to resemble the Echinacea flower. This is made possible by wires inserted into the rolled edges of the “petals”, causing it to curl as well as fall. Wires are also inserted into the edges of the fabric flowers attached to the bodice, causing the flower’s petals to curl inwards (closing the flower when there is no sun) and curl outwards (opening the flower when direct sun light hits the solar panels).

This design is not only transformative but interactive as well. Tiny blue fairy lights are inserted into the petals of the fabric flowers. These lights are “Clapper” Lights – they work with an electrical outlet and this outlet reacts to the sound of two or three claps.

A few of my inspirations for my Interactive "Clapper" dress below:

The Clapper is a sound activated electrical switch. Two smaller versions of this switch are inserted into the side seams of the dress, making it possible for the blue fairy lights (which are inserted into the hems of the multiple layers of the baby doll dress) to go on and off when someone claps.  Clapping continuously will cause these lights to flicker on and off. The lights go on at every second clap.

My transformative as well as Interactive designs may be for entertainment purposes but at the same time they raise awareness of the endangered Echinacea Paradoxa plant :)

You have probably noticed that almost all of my designs are inspired by nature.. With so many different species, colours, shapes, textures, features and sizes to choose from, how could you not be inspired?


xoxo