
These Knitted Kinetic Lights Take Playtime Seriously
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“Many people think play is just for children,” says London-based designer Michelle Rinow. “But it’s necessary through all stages of life.” This sentiment is what led the Royal College of Art graduate, who earned a master’s degree in textiles earlier this year, to develop Transforming Touch, a series of knitted lights that encourage users of every age to engage in a bout of old-fashioned fun. Rinow cleverly employed tricky weaving techniques and vibrant colors to entice curious fingers onto the lighting’s tactile surfaces. Made out of cotton and silk industrial yarn, touch sensors, and LED lights, the objects transform and respond when handled: Squeeze, stroke, or poke the rim of a wall-mounted fixture to turn it on and activate its rubber center, which inflates and deflates like a beating heart, or pull apart an accordion-like table lamp to reveal hidden hues between its folds.