Opera at SXSW 2008

This panel discussion featured Craft Senior Editor Natalie Zee Drieu, Syuzi Pakhchyan of SparkLab, producer Alison Lewis of IHeartSwitch, Mouna Andraos of Electronic Crafts and Thing-A-Day.com, and designer Diana Eng. The topic was combining traditional crafts—sewing and knitting, for example—and craft culture with high-tech artifacts and functionality.

Drieu served as moderator and began the discussion by asking the panelists to introduce themselves and show some projects they've been working on. Eng went first, showing a hoodie that monitors its wearer's heartbeat and takes photographs when he or she gets excited and a jacket whose ruffle is based on the Fibonacci sequence. Next, Pakhchyan presented a solar-powered broach and interactive finger puppets with their own personalities: "Blush" blushes and "slightly neurotic" "Tremble" shakes. Lewis had a purse which lights up when you open it and a vase that lights up in response to noise. Finally, Andraos, who claimed she returned to crafting after she "got tired of experiencing technology entirely through a mouse and keyboard," showed off a scarf that was also an mp3 player.

Drieu's first question was: How were you introduced to crafting?

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