Concept

InnerScapes is a device that assists the user in breathing techniques, a sensitive tapestry, able to recall a unique and personal positive experience.

Through an online platform the user is guided in the exploration of a memory, each feature is translated into a visual-tactile code and transformed into a personalised hanging textile element. Four typical places (interiors, open spaces, streets and waterways) corresponds to a graphic pattern and a movement that the fabric will perform, the four atmospheres are associated with colour gradients (cold, warm, neutral or soft), the memory of the scents determines the choice of textile fibres (tencel, cotton, hemp or recycled wool). Finally, the recording of a short thirty-second sound allows an algorithm to generate slight variations within the weaving pattern, thus making it unique. The fabric is animated by shape memory fibres or alternatively by servomotors housed in the bars of the hanging system. The pressure sensors included in the fabric allow to trigger the sequence of slow rhythmic movements, a breath, that animates the woven pattern: like a memory brought to mind, the touch brings out an emotional landscape. The artefact is a responsive membrane that creates a connection with the user's breath: through an app it will be possible to programme and adjust the various breathing rhythms; the fabric will indicate the inhalation and exhalation times through its movement. It can be used during meditative sessions or at any time a relaxing break is needed.

The device can be used in the home to set up an introverted space for relaxation and yoga disciplines. Two or more rectangular modules can be installed to define a larger space. Although the device is the product of an individual experience, it can also be used in the contract field to set up thematic rooms in spaces for wellness and mind-body balance: Spas and thermal baths, yoga centres and gyms. The project revisits and reinterprets the archetype of the tapestry in a contemporary key: the tapestry and its representations have always had a narrative and symbolic function. However, we are replacing the great epic narrative of the past with a "small" story made up of individual stories, personal experiences and moments to remember. The product designed is part of the phygital sphere - the crossover between physical and digital - proposing a continuous exchange between online and offline experience: it hybridises the digital and physical dimensions, programming and craftsmanship, the abstract and the corporeal. In fact, the user's digital experience enters the generation process by shaping the final artefact, controlling its functionality and generating a connection with the individual body dimension. The craftsmanship used is the fabric manipulation that allows to obtain a three-dimensional structures. Each pattern is obtained through a different technique: thread stitch embroidery meander (shirring deformation), folding and stitching (cabled tucks), folding- shaping and cutting (contoured tucks), while in the free weave fabric a portion of the warp is removed.