Kodai Shimizu

Department: Social Design
Website: kodaishimizu.com

CRAFT-TECHMEN PROJECT

What: Kodai Shimizu predicts a future in which a new guild of ‘craft-techmen’, combining the skills of the engineer, designer, and craftsman, will create new home appliances that can be easily fixed when broken

Why: With integrated craft techniques home appliances can be repaired when broken and handed down to the next generation. These new artifacts will make people realise that wealth is much more a matter of intangible values.

How: Conductive threads sewed into several home appliances facilitate disassembly for reparation, while also adding new functionalities. By rotating one part of the device, the threads adjust to different levels of contact, causing voltage variation. This simple system can be adapted to different functions by reprogramming the accompanying microcomputer.

“The ‘Craft-Techmen Project’ questions the materials and electronic technologies surrounding us”