Edinburgh Napier University

  The idea of creating a jewellery organism that comes alive on the body has fascinated and inspired my research ever since learning about the potential inherent in smart materials almost ten years ago. While smart materials have been known to scientists for far longer (Huang et al., 2010), and have been used to great effect in engineering and aeronautic applications as actuators, their use in contemporary art and craft has been sporadic, most likely because of the challenges posed in processing and shaping them. With the increased prevalence of digital technologies in our everyday lives, the questions posed to the contemporary craft practitioner regarding the creation of a more refined interaction between the digitally enhanced object and its wearer have become progressively more prominent in the applied arts. Through examining the notion that human biology is a part of material culture, where the body can be shaped, customised or altered through surgical intervention and scientific innovation, my research explores how recent developments in material science and wearable technologies can be viewed as moving towards a future embracing the posthuman body, bridging the gap between craft practitioner and scientific discovery. Developing a holistic approach, whereby material experimentation and digital production processes are used to facilitate the development of aesthetically and biologically integrated wearable technologies, is the goal I strive towards attaining. More immediately however, I am challenging the perception of smart materials and their application within the field of contemporary jewellery in both an artistic and scientific context through proposing the development of symbiotic stimulus-reactive jewellery organisms.