Leah Heiss

The Macquarie Dictionary suggests that embedding is “to fix firmly in a surrounding mass” while to enable is to “to make able; give power, means, or ability to; make competent; authorise” or to make possible or easy”. The purpose of the residency - I am starting to glean - is to further develop projects that enable: users and artefacts. This might include enabling a parent to determine immediately, without medical apparatus, whether their child has a temperature. It simultaneously focuses on enabling artefacts - enabling a piece of jewellery to non-verbally indicate the presence of a higher than normal temperature. The methodology through which this is achieved is the design process. How do we take a desire for information and turn it into a product?

Reference: The Macquarie Dictionary Online © 2007 Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd.

Today I am focusing on an interactive jewellery project that I am working on with Dr Larry Jordan. Following are a few musings on issues of hyper symbolism within jewellery. The Carrying Wellness project is focused on augmenting jewellery, which is already a hyper symbolic object, with additional functionalities. In this case the jewellery carries the capacity to purify drinking water of arsenic, making nomadic journeys safer and more viable. Following is an image of the neckpiece which contains mesoporous iron oxide and measuring device in lid.

Working with this type of project raises all sorts of interesting issues. Some of these were articulated yesterday during an interview with The Age during which the reporter brought up the idea of jewellery being something of whimsy. Through augmenting the behavioural potentials of jewellery we somewhat take away its innocence. It is no longer something that can just be interchanged at will without thought. To this I responded that there are different types of emotional relationships with different types of jewellery. A wedding ring has perceived value above and beyond its material worth. Through augmenting the healing potentialities of a wedding band we increase its significance. A few thoughts…

An interesting part of this residency is the exposure to ideas of commercialisation and assessing projects in terms of their mercantile viability. Designers, and apparently scientists to some extent, are quite prone to focusing in on their projects to the exclusion of concerns about relevance and potential marketability. In presenting my design concepts this morning several interesting things happened. Firstly, it opened the door to acquire targeted feedback on the proposals and specific suggestions for technologies/materials. Secondly, it allowed for a ‘voting in’ of the most to least popular designs – a challenging situation for the traditionally fragile ego of the designer. In short the outcomes were positive – the water project has market support, particularly as it appeals on an emotional level. Things to consider would be: could we incorporate diagnostic technology into the device? This would render it a diagnostic and a treatment tool. This would make the project more powerful on a human scale and become a self contained nomadic device.

The bandage project garnered support but there was the general feeling that it would be technically quite challenging. An outcome is the requirement to do more research regarding the sensors, thermochromic inks, as well as to understand what actually happens when the body fights off an infection (i.e. localised temperature increase). Finally, from a form perspective should the bandage be moulded out of one material – or based on a more traditional typology. All good questions!

Exposure to a wide variety of scientific concepts has been quite profound – many things go over my head but there are other pieces of knowledge that are more accessible to arty types like myself.

Well - have been working on the bandage project. The following is an image demonstrating the bandage on a person. The inset detail of
colour change which denotes a raise in local temperature > infection.

original photograph from www.health-and-fitness-journal.com

With the first two weeks dedicated to interviewing the Nanovic team about relevant technologies and getting my head around the scale of all things nano I am now ready to formulate some projects. Following are three concept sketches for the first phase of the residency.

Key dates/outcomes:
Wednesday 12 September: bandage prototyping
Thursday 13 September: Project concept proposal

Project 1: Bandage project

Overview:
This is an advanced therapeutic bandage that works on a number of levels.
- It senses the wearer’s vital signs via small embedded ECG + temperature sensors.
- It allows the wearer to record this information (ideally) for biofeedback purposes and recovery tracking
- It incorporates a non-verbal design feature (thermochromic ink print) that lets the wearer know if an infection has broken out.
- It utilises conductive textiles and threads to minimise hard components and increase user comfort

Team:
Leah Heiss – designer
Dr. Bob Irving – Therapeutic devices
Dr. Jeanette Pritchard - Therapeutic devices
Dr. Larry Jordan – Materials advisor
Dr. Peter Binks – Advisor + independent consultant

Materials:
- Thermochroic ink: responsive at body temperature with mild fluctuations (37 degrees celcius +/- 2 degrees) (Question: is there an ink that is sensitive enough to pick up very mild changes in temperature?)
- ECG and temperature sensors
- Conductive textiles and thread
- Regular bandage materials

Process:
1: Develop prototype of bandage with inactive materials
2: Investigate sensor technologies + obtain samples
3: Investigate thermochromic inks, where to purchase, costs etc
4: Develop integrated prototype with active materials
5: Technology testing - compatability of chosen technologies

Project 2: Arsenic project (carrying wellness)

Overview:
This project is a neckpiece and water vessel. The neckpiece is a receptacle that carries mesoporous iron oxide which can remove arsenic from water. The neckpiece contains a built in measuring device that allows the user to put the correct amount into their specially designed water vessel and feel confident that the arsenic has been removed from it. The water vessel contains a built in filter for removing the particles before drinking. The vessel and neckpiece are designed for people in transit in areas where arsenic is prevalent in found water (India, Bangladesh, United States).

Team:
Leah Heiss – designer
Dr. Larry Jordan – materials advisor
Dr. Ravi Krishna– materials advisor
Dr. Sarah Morgan – advisor on water analysis sensor devices

Materials:
- Rapid prototyped composite
- Clear material for window parts of 2 elements (1mm-2mm acrylic?)
- Mesoporous iron oxide
- Very fine muslin for filtering out mesoporous iron oxide particles
- Thread or silver wire for neck connection
- Fabric strap to connect to belt

Process:
1. Establish quantities to clarify 250 or 500ml water
2. 3D model forms: bottle (with cup + filter) and neckpiece
3. Draft 1: Rapid prototyped from composite (Z print) @ SIAL
4. Finalise modelling changes
5. Outsource elements for rapid prototyping

Reference project:Magic Bottle, Frank Feltham + Nasser Samman, 2006

Project 3: Diatoms

Overview:
This is a smaller project that seeks to develop an engaging design to demonstrate the properties of the nanopigment infused plastucs that Larry Jordan has been working on. The form would be based on a diatom. Questions: shoudl this be a beautiful form or also have some function. A sculptural artefacts might be sufficient.

Team:
Leah Heiss – designer
Dr. Larry Jordan – materials advisor

Materials:
nanopigment infused plastics

Process:
1. 3D model form
2. Rapid prototyped from composite (Z print)
3. Outsource mould creation from rapid prototype
4. Cast nanopigment infused plastic diatomic structure

This is the blog of Leah Heiss, designer, and her manifold adventures while undertaking a residency with Nanotechnology Victoria. The main aims of this residency are to address the following parallel concerns:

- Is it possible to augment our garments and artefacts with extra functionalities - the power to heal, correct, and treat our physical ailments?

- How can the changing colour of our jewellery or the shape transformation of our wound dressing communicate to us about our physical and emotional health and wellbeing?