Let buttons be buttons!

by Paul Curzon, Queen Mary University of London

We are used to the idea that we use buttons with electronics to switch things on and off, but Rebecca Stewart and Sophie Skach decided to use real buttons in the old-fashioned sense of a fashionable way to fasten up clothes. Rebecca created integrated circuit buttons - electronics, sensors and a battery inside an actual button. Sophie then built them into a stylish jacket that included digital embroidery, embedding lighting and the circuitry to control it into the fabric of the jacket.

How do you control the light effects? You just button and unbutton the jacket of course!