jean-baptiste labrune
work

flexible e-textile


2007 · textilo, paris · hyperwerk, basel

Hands soldering electronic components on a red table
Two green circuit boards held in the hands

Conductive fabric boards that turn any variable resistance into a digital signal.

A Zelt conductive fabric and velostat analogue-to-digital circuit, made so design students could build their own flexible boards. It uses an NE555 rather than an ATMEGA — a simpler component — and lets any variable-resistance sensor produce a digital signal.

Made alongside a workshop with Leah Buechley, who developed the e-textile version of the Arduino board. These early pre-prototypes are flexible, built with Flectron conductive fabrics. Leah and Nathan Seidle at Sparkfun later mass-produced a rigid version, the Lilypad Arduino.