Design & Research & Teaching & Writing
Education Manager, APROE, San Francisco, CA: Dec. 2021 – present
Senior Project Manager, APROE, San Francisco, CA: Dec. 2019 – 2021
Oversaw various aspects of shop setup tasks including:
+ Auditing shops and cataloging machine utility needs.
+ Researching machine utility and space requirements. Reviewing cut sheets for machines before and after installation.
+ Interviewing shop users and ensuring requested needs are met and aligned across HVAC, electrical and architectural design teams.
+ Executing and overseeing the layout of APROE-made machine footprints within shop environments before installation.
Author, Soft Circuitry: An Introduction to E-textile Interfaces – a chapter focusing on soft circuits and electronics in the 3rd edition of Handmade Electronic Music written by Nicolas Collins. Co-written with Sarah Grant, chootka.com. Published: 2020
+ Designed, photographed, and wrote about soft circuit projects integrating with musical circuits.
+ Designed instructional diagrams for creating handmade fiber-based sensors
+ Wrote community side-bar highlighting e-textile focuses, themes, and community projects.
Educational Project Manager/Technical Writer and Editor, APROE, San Francisco, CA: Nov. 2018 – Dec. 2019
Contributor, Hackaday.com: 2018
+ Project curation and written copy covering hardware, wearable electronics, and e-textile specific content.
+ Original content written about wearable electronics and e-textile specific content.
Senior Lecturer, Wearable and Soft Interactions, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA: 2013 – 2017
+ Developed a 6 hour studio, 15 week semester long curriculum for the Interaction Design Department.
+ Accepted as an Upper Division Interdisciplinary Studio (UDIST) class opening it to all majors: 2014, 2015, 2016
+ Class accepted into NASA Cluster program addressing engineering problems of spacesuits.
+ Partnered with Ability Now Bay Area and individuals with cerebral palsy to give students meaningful and applicable design challenges and to build awareness of underrepresented users.
Educational and Technical Writer/Editor, Next Thing Co., Oakland, CA: 2016 – 2017
+ Maintained online documentation for DIY community and enterprise clients.
+ Edited manuals, datasheets and other public facing technical documents.
+ Created educational material for educators and organizations to learn company hardware and software along with example curriculum.
Designer/Content Creator, Instructables, Autodesk, San Francisco, CA: 2014 – 2016
+ Designed, documented, wrote and edited 50 Instructables and 2 online courses.
+ Developed and built 12 projects for Intel promoting the Edison board.
Fashion Technologist, Switch Embassy, San Francisco, CA: 2012 – 2014
+ Developed tshirtOS 2.0, a wearable and washable connected LED display t-shirt. Client: Ballantine’s
+ Co-designed and produced prototypes of illuminated clothing and accessories using electronic embroidery and embedded electronics including Theia, a luxury leather handbag developed while a resident at hardware accelerator Highway1.
Fabricator/Patternmaker, Final Frontier Designs, Brooklyn, NY: 2010 – 2012
+ Phase I NASA SBIR contract, “Space Suit Pressure Garment and Robotic Hand Development”
+ Created flat cut patterns for EVA space suit pressure garments, gloves and anti-gravity pants.
+ Fabricated EVA space suit pressure garments and gloves using RF welder, evaluated and tested in vacuum chamber.
Founder and Designer, Chartreuse Circle Costume and Design, NYC, San Francisco: 2010 – 2014
Fashion/Costume Design & Fabrication
Fabricator, Ted Southern, Brooklyn, NY: 2010 – 2012
+ Built costumes from various materials creatively translating sketch to physical piece.
+ Select Clients: Victoria’s Secret, Mercy Drinks
Fabricator, Izquierdo Studios, NYC, NY: 2010
+ Built costumes from various materials creatively translating sketch to physical piece.
+ Select Clients: Seal, Heidi Klum, Lord and Taylor
Production Manager, Zoe Twitt, NYC, NY: 2011
Sample Maker/Patternmaker, Zoe Twitt, NYC, NY: 2010
Sample Maker/Patternmaker, Love Brigade, Brooklyn, NY: 2009 – 2011
Sample Maker/Patternmaker, Chulette, NYC, NY: 2010
Seamstress, Kinkaraco Funeral Shrouds, San Francisco, CA: 2012
RTW Corset Stitcher and Finisher, Dark Garden, San Francisco, CA: 2012
Designer and member, Pandora’s Trunk Co-op, San Francisco, CA: 2005 – 2006
Bridal Seamstress, Dark Garden, San Francisco, CA: 2006 – 2008
Restoration Seamstress, Wasteland, San Francisco, CA: 2005 – 2007
Classroom Curriculum & Teaching
Wearable and Soft Interactions, California College of the Arts, Upper Division Interdisciplinary Studio (UDIST), San Francisco, CA: Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017
Wearable and Soft Interactions, California College of the Arts, Interaction Design, San Francisco, CA: Spring 2013, Spring 2014
Sewing Machine SBU (Safety and Basic Use), TechShop, San Francisco, CA: 2012 – 2013
Electronic and Soldering Fundamentals, TechShop, San Francisco, CA: 2012 – 2013
Workshop Curriculum and Teaching
Intro to Wearable Electronics, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA: 2018
Soft Circuits, Maker Studio SF, San Francisco, CA: 2017
eTextile Connectors (co-taught w/ Rachel Freire), eTextile Summer Camp, Poncé-sur-le-Loir, France: 2017
Methods and Materials: Prototyping Fashion-Forward Wearables, Design of Wearables, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA: 2014
Costume Hack w/ LilyPad Arduino, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA: 2012
Soft Circuitry Basics, TechShop, San Francisco, CA: 2012
Soft Circuitry and Synthesizers (co-taught w/ Sarah Grant), New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan: 2012
Soft Controller and Synthesizers (co-taught w/ Sarah Grant), New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway: 2011
Soft Circuitry w/ LilyPad Arduino, Gray Area Foundation, San Francisco, CA: 2011
Textiles and Electronics (co-taught w/ Sarah Grant), In/Out Festival, NYC, NY: 2010
How to Needle Felt Circuits, Maker Faire, NYC, NY: 2010
How to Wet Felt, Maker Faire, San Francisco, CA: 2008
Online Curriculum
Raspberry Pi Class, Instructables, Autodesk, San Francisco, CA: 2017
Wearable Electronics Class, Instructables, Autodesk, San Francisco, CA: 2016
Talks & Lectures
Social eTextiles (w/ Emilie Giles and Anna Blumenkranz with Liza Stark as Moderator), eTextile SummerFest, Poncé-sur-le-Loir, France: 2017
Sustainable Wearables & Heirloom Electronics, Gray Area Festival, San Francisco, CA: 2016
Fashionable Circuits, Fashion Design 3, Instructor Lynda Grose, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA: 2015
Fashion Tech Design (w/ Alison Lewis, Meg Grant and Kristin Neidlinger), Designers + Geeks, San Francisco, CA: 2014
Make it Meaningful: Designing Wearables We’ll Desire (w/ Lynda Grose), Design of Wearables, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA: 2014
Lara and Sarah Grant: FSP, Dorkbot, NYC, New York: 2011
Software & Hardware & Tools
Soft/Hardware
+ Arduino IDE & various Arduino supported microcontrollers.
+ Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom
+ Single-board-computers: Edison, RPi, and C.H.I.P.
+ Python
+ Bash
+ EAGLE
+ Fusion360
+ Max/MSP
+ Pure Data
+ macOS, Linux, and Windows operating systems
Tools & Machinery
+ OMAX Waterjet cutter
+ Othermill (now Bantam Tools Milling Machine)
+ Benchtop reflow oven
+ Hand held ultrasonic welder
+ Tabletop vacuum forming machine
+ Lasercutters: Epilog and Coherent Metabeam
+ 3D printers: Stratasys Connex500 resin printer, several FDM printers including the Ultimaker 3, Makerbots and a hand-built large bed 24” x 27” printer.
+ Wood shop: drill press, band saw, miter saw and disk sander.
+ Textiles shop: Juki Industrial walking foot, Juki and Brother industrial straight stitch, Industrial and domestic sergers, domestic coverstitch, serger and sewing machines, Singer Futura embroidery machine, gravity feed steam iron.
Residencies, Awards & Patents
Stochastic Labs Residency : Summer 2018 Cohort
WEAR Sustain Funding Competition Round 2: March 19th – September 19th, 2018
eTextile Summer Camp, Poncé-sur-le-Loir, France: 2017
Artist in Resident, Autodesk Pier 9 AiR Program, San Francisco, CA: 2016
CODAME Labs, Oakland, CA: 2016
eTextile Summer Camp, Poncé-sur-le-Loir, France: 2015
Techtextil Innovation Award (w/Forster Rohner), New Concept Category, “A Wearable Digital Canvas for Infinite Expression”: 2015
Startup Hardware Accelerator (Switch Embassy), Highway1, San Francisco, CA: Spring Cohort of 2014
Methods and Processes for Embedding Practical and Decorative Electronics to Garments and Wearable Accessories, Patent Pending: 2014
Bibliography
Print Media
Push Reset Musical Textile, Anna Blumenkraz, Wearables für Maker, May 30th, 2017. 135.
Felt Stretch Sensor, Felt Stroke Sensor, Felt Pressure-Sensitive Button, Kate Hartman, Make: Wearable Electronics, Maker Media Inc, Sept. 5th, 2014. 141-142.
Various Felted and Electronic Fashions, Sylvia Rubin, Crucible Fashion Show Fires it up, SF Chronicle. June 7th, 2013. Cover story.
Portrait, Dorothy Santos (Arts Editor), Asterisk San Francisco Magazine: Art and Design Issue, Co-Publishers Jeremy Joven & Alexander Winter, Oct. 2012. 31.
Arched Coatdress, Nathalie Mornu, 500 Felt Objects: Contemporary Explorations of a Remarkable Material, Larks Crafts, 2011. 13.
Online
DIY Auto-adjusting Jacket from Back to the Future with 3D Printed Parts, Kira, 3ders, Oct. 25th, 2015.
How to Make the One-Size-Fits-All Jacket from Back to the Future, Beckett Mufson, Creators, Vice, Oct. 21st, 2015.
Can Hardware Incubator Highway1 be the New Silicon Valley Startup Garage?, Leander Kahney, Cult of Mac, July 1st, 2014.
Crucible Fashion Show Fires it Up, Sylvia Rubin, SFGate, June 7th, 2013.
Lara Grant’s Ruffletron – A Wearable Musical Interface, Synthhead, Synthtopia, Sept. 18t, 2012.
Ruffletron Synth Skirt Controller, Matrixsynth, Sept. 17th, 2012.
Ruffletron: Skirt, Neck Piece Make Beautiful Music When Touched, Elliot Van Buskirk, Evolver.fm, Sept. 17th, 2012.
Lara Grant Gives ‘Soft Synths’ New Meaning, Synthhead, Synthtopia, May 10th, 2012.
Sarah and Lara Grant’s Felt Based Modular Synth Design & Sound Processing, Matrixsynth, May 11th, 2011.
Tangible Tuesdays: Felted Signal Processing, Katie Shelly, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, March 1st, 2011.
World Maker Faire Recap, Angela Sheehan, Soft Circuit Saturdays, Oct. 2nd, 2010.
Wearable Tech Roundup Maker Faire NYC, Syuzi Pakhchyan, Fashioning Tech, Sept. 20th, 2010.
A Studio Visit with Sarah and Lara Grant of Felted Signal Processing, Ceci Moss, Rhizome, Sept. 9th, 2010.
Soft Sensors: A Student Crafts Literally Warmer and Fuzzier Computer Interfaces, Josh Rubin, Cool Hunting, May 10th, 2010.
Musical Sewing Machines, Electronic Honky-Tonk, and Handmade Music NYC Monday, Peter Kirn, Create Digital Music (CDM), March 5th, 2010.
Radio
DIY Holiday Gift Hacks, Color Theory Brooch – project mention, Ira Flatow, Science Friday, NPR, Dec. 12th, 2014
Event Production and Curation
Electronic Textile Camp, Vicksburg, MI: 2023, 2024
eTextile Spring Break, Wassaic, NY: 2018, 2019, 2020
In/Out Digital Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY: 2012
To Be Continued… Theatrical Fashion Show, San Francisco, CA: 2006
Urbane Crush Art Show, San Francisco: 2004
Showings and Performances
Headdress, Five and Diamond, San Francisco, CA: 2012
Push Reset, Devotion Gallery, NYC, NY: 2012
Handmade Music Lounge, Solid Sound Music and Arts Festival, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA: 2011
Circuit Bending Orchestra (w/ Matt Ganucheau and Peter Kirn), Diana Eng’s Fairytale Fashion Show, Eyebeam, NYC, NY: 2010
16th and Mission, MoMA PS1, NYC, NY: 2010
16th and Mission, NIME class showcase, Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY: 2009
Home Collection, SF Fashion Week, San Francisco, CA: 2007
Education
MPS from Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 2010
BFA in Fashion and Textile Design, Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA, 2004
