E-SENSE
Our relationship to material is one-sided and distant: we use, then we discard. Waste is something only to be disposed of - it’s nothing more than the remnants of bygone functionality and inspiration. How can we form more intimate, compassionate, and collaborative relationships with waste? How can be begin to look at it not as something to throw away, but as a living substance that is ripe for remixing and reinventing? Material does not die when it becomes waste - it becomes wiser, its story more vivid and alive. Perhaps forging a more intimate relationship with waste begins by taking time to pause and listen to all that it has to say. 
Made entirely out of gathered electronic waste, and waste yarn from discarded knitting samples, E-SENSE is a sonically-responsive textile. When activated by the touch of a human hand, E-SENSE comes alive, speaking in ambient sound that invites one to pause and listen to the stories told by material that has lived many lives. 
PROCESS
E-SENSE is a textile made from gathered wires and cords that were braided and tied together to form a rectangular structure. Yarn from discarded knitting samples was unraveled, wound onto balls, knit using a 4-needle cord maker, and then re-knit into the wire structure using a lapping technique typical of warp knitting. Using Arduino capacitive touch functionality, the sound is played from external speakers once a human hand completes the circuit by touching the conductive portions of the textile. 2018