Touchy is a soft technology project that allows 2 users to hapticly interact with each other indiscriminately over distance. Designed to explore our relationships with and without presence, Touchy is created using smart materials and custom electronics and allows us to extend our grasp beyond our actual location and being, connecting us physically to the remote.

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Emulating the bioluminescent relationships between predator and prey, this collaborative project captures the aesthetic look and behavior of the Creatures of the Abyss in a collection of three garments that are a fusion of Haute Couture and Haute Tech. Created by using an ancient japanese method of manipulating fabric called "Shibori", and innovative electronic techniques and lighting, these dresses create an amazing light show and become almost creatures in themselves as they interact dynamically with each other.

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Rhosyn is an amalgamation of cutting edge technology and haute Couture created through innovation and multidisciplinary collaboration. Rhosyn is a pioneering Avent Garde dress, designed to gracefully unfurl into a rose on the wearer in a haunting yet beautiful juxtaposition of technology and biology. The design of Rhosyn mimics a real rose, with a multitude of petals, created using smart materials and fine silks and controlled via wearable electronics

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Myles Leadbeatter has spent the last 2 years pioneering new techniques and concepts for wearable electronics, focusing on creating new ways to interact via our clothing. Myles describes clothing as "a social and cultural epidermis" thats "is our most promising tool for interfacing with each other as well as information networks". Myles' first exhibition piece 'Electrified Nature' was concerned with the idea of Telepresence and it has since become a major theme within his artistic works. Telepresence is the notion of translating ourselves to a place or situation that is remote to our actual vicinity and is explored in his new work 'Touch Me'; 'Touch Me" is a soft technology experiment designed to allow two people the ability to experience each others presence hapticly,regardless of their seperation. Myles is a major supporter of collaborative design practices and has recently been working with two fashion designers to create interactive garments that express themselves using lights and through movement achieved using smart materials. Myles' work is inspired by Eduardo Kacs telepresence experiments and Mark Weissers theory of 'Calm Technology' and seeks to use technology to inform our lives passively, allowing us to leave our computer screens behind and distribute information to our environment.

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