++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Biography
loop.pH creates and develops new and reactive surfaces and objects, conducts an extensive range of research activities and collaborates with industry and multi-disciplinary groups.
Based in London Rachel Wingfield set up loop.pH to develop reactive surfaces for the interior and has worked on architectural and fashion commissions, product design and public installations. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2002 with an MPhil in Textiles her work has been exhibited internationally at the furniture fairs in Tokyo, Milan, China, Stockholm, Valencia, Brussels and London. At the London show loop.pH was short-listed for best newcomer in the 100% Design Blueprint Awards. Rachel was also a finalist for the Peugeot Design Awards in 2002 winning the development prize for
LightSleeperBedding. Her work
DigitalDawn can now be seen in the textile collection of the V&A Museum after a successful exhibition in the lighting show ‘Brilliant’.
Through the use of new display technologies Rachel Wingfield has enabled familiar textile objects to take on a new dimension, whilst exploring the physiological effects of light and colour on our sense of well-being. An example being the reactive window blind,
DigitalDawn, which functions as an ambient lighting product that illuminates in response to its surroundings. The darker a space becomes the brighter the blind will glow maintaining a balance in luminosity. A natural, botanical environment appears to grow and evolve on the window lamp. A continuing theme in her work is growth and biomimicry, ‘mimicking’ nature to improve design. Nature is a huge influence with a vast source of ideas that can be applied to design. She aims to capture the dynamic, rich display of botanical life into textiles whilst researching the role surfaces could play in increasing energy efficiency, becoming active and self-sufficient.
Rachel Wingfield is currently working with artist Mathias Gmachl under the name loop.pH on private and public commissions such as The pUBLIC, a new media museum/ gallery in West Bromwich designed by Will Alsop. Loop.pH will also be working with the Elumin8 Foundation to develop further products with Elumin8’s innovative electroluminescent technology and with the leading wall covering manufacturers, Graham & Brown, to develop wallpaper concepts.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Design Museum Questions
1. How did you become interested in design?
I have always been creative and had a real passion for art and design. I struggled academically at school with science and maths but it’s really exciting to now realise that the sciences and arts are so related. I am continuing my learning whilst fusing the two creatively.
2. What are your objectives as a designer?
a. To always be curious and questioning and to have the confidence to explore new territory, even though often a complicated route!!
b. I try to question the validity of a piece, so far the majority of my work relies on electricity but I think the object should be desirable, useful and aesthetically good even without any power!! I also want to make work that is relevant and understood by everyone and not just an elite ‘design conscious’ few, so, if my grandma and my little brother don’t understand what I am making then it’s not usually worth making.
c. To learn as much as I can in the process
3. Who or what inspires your work?
a. Nature is a huge influence with a vast source of ideas that can be applied to design. I am fascinated by systems of growth and botanical life and would love to capture this dynamic, rich display into textiles. I am interested in the role textiles could play in energy efficiency, becoming active and self-sufficient. I look to mimic nature in all my work and this is what inspired
LightSleeperBedding and
DigitalDawn. I have been researching the physiological effects of light and colour on our well-being alongside the branching and photosynthesising of plants.
b. I love to work with pattern and having studied printed textiles at Loughborough I am constantly impressed by historical and traditional patterns from many eras such as Islamic Geometry and Art Nuevo. There appears to be an amazing connection and observation of the world and the patterns formed in nature.
c. I find it really inspiring to work collaboratively and learn as much as I can from different disciplines.
d. I am also inspired by the work of Swiss architects Philippe Rahm Jean-Gilles Décosterd (Décosterd & Rahm) who explore physiological architecture with such a sensitivity to space and unseen frequencies. They maintain a very interesting art /science cross over.
4. What are the chief challenges facing design today?
a. The sustainability and ecological issues surrounding the production of more ‘design’ objects. I am concerned about energy consumption and have been researching how ‘active’ textiles can play a part in alternative renewable energy supplies. The original function of the
DigitalDawn blind was that one side would contain printed solar cells and the reverse would emit light, completing a loop and becoming self-sufficient. Further research and funding is needed to implement this.
b. To produce something meaningful as more and more technology centred ‘gadgets’ infiltrate everyday life with little benefit.
c. Being aware and informed of advances made in other industries and sectors such as the arts, science, social science, politics and technology.
5. Please describe the work you will show in Design Mart
I will be showing the new generation of
DigitalDawn window blind Blumen and a site specific installation exploring botanical growth and the translation of 3d to 2d as a methodology for the print design of Blumen.
Blumen is a progression from previous work functioning as a reactive surface that divides and ornaments space. The piece will use Elumin8’s electroluminescent (EL) printing technology and will be shown in a wallpaper format as sliding panels.
Natural pattern growth can be implemented on the textile panel using software with a simple rule set based on life. The EL print will be constructed from a number of addressable cells and with the use of various sensors the pattern will emerge and develop in response to its environment.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For both designers and scientists observing nature is the most important resource to develop new technologies and designs. For Rachel Wingfield, the availability of software simulating nature and electroluminescent printing technologies enables her to create reactive surfaces. These surfaces reinvent familiar textile objects containing visual patterns based on botanical growth that become dynamic in response to temporal patterns in the environment.
Born in Ilkley, North Yorkshire in 1978, Wingfield became interested in the possibilities of applying new technologies to textiles as a student at Loughborough University and the Royal College of Art. She has since developed reactive textiles for use in blinds, screens and bedding by experimenting with the electroluminescent display technology used in mobile phones and flat displays in collaboration with The Elumin8 Foundation. Wingfield is also working with Graham & Brown to develop these technologies for wallpaper.
Together with the artist Mathias Gmachl, Wingfield conceived an installation for the Design Museum atrium, inspired by a fascination with botanical growth. Blumen is a reactive electroluminescent print that divides and ornaments space using a wallpaper format, while Botanical Scan creates an illusion of a three dimensional form from a sequence of transparent photographic prints.
www.loop.ph
rachel@loopNOSPAM.ph
This project was sponsored by The Elumin8 Foundation and Graham & Brown as part of the Design Mart exhibition supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
www.elumin8.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rachel Wingfield CV
--
RachelWingfield - 22 Aug 2004
to top