Lamp changes brightness by pressing its stretchable textile

WINT Design Lab, which focuses on sustainable product innovations, and electronics firm Fraunhofer IZM have partnered to produce a lamp that can change its brightness when the user presses the surface’s stretchable textile. “Soft Interfaces” uses a liquid metal dispensing technology placed inside a fabric that’s new to product applications. 

The liquid metal, called Galinstan, is embedded into the touch-sensitive fabric and flows through pathways inside the textile, so when users stretch the fabric, the paths change shape. The system reads the movement and adjusts the temperature and brightness of the lamp. 

Case Studies, a Berlin knit design studio made custom yarns and created the stretchable textile and other materials used. The stretchable fabric has alternating knit patterns to mark touch areas to help users feel the interactive zones. 

Four touch areas control its warm or cool light settings and change the fabric color with the light temperature. A textile screen blocks direct light from the user’s eyes, allowing the reflected light to fill the room. 

The teams say that the liquid metal tracks work better than conductive yarn sensors because the metal maintains electrical connection when fabric stretches. The teams see the technology having various applications, including interactive surfaces in car interior controls, home textiles, medical products, and sound systems.