Hug Jackets

The HugJackets take the idea of the LoveJackets a step further. While the LoveJackets represent a random act of courtship, a chance encounter, the HugJackets demand a deliberate act of union. An embrace between the two wearers activates, like in the case of the LoveJackets, a pattern of LEDs and a heartbeat sound.

If the LoveJackets begin a courtship, the HugJackets consummate it.

An intricate appliqué made of conductive fabric is sewn on the front of each jacket. When two people wearing a HugJacket embrace they actually power each other up through that pattern. The symbolic energy transfer becomes fully actualised and the embrace is translated into a performance of light and sound. The HugJackets technology itself is astonishingly simple — it is the intricate patterning and placement of the conductive fabric that allows for the surprising connection and effect to take place.

The two jackets, through their twined pattern, literally plug into each other’s battery source. As in the case of the LoveJackets, the HugJackets are constructed in such a way as to provide innovative solutions in the mechanical integration of technological components, conductive fabric and traditional garment construction — while also prompting new, technologically mediated interactions.