Abstract
Proximity Ruff explores embodied interaction and social care through a wearable device that translates human proximity into light. Designed within The Spark Design Research Studio (Naples, Italy), it reinterprets the historical ruff as a postdigital interface that re-educates the body to closeness after the pandemic. Generated through evolutionary algorithms and 3D-printed in bioplastic PLA, the piece embeds 72 LEDs and proximity sensors that visualize interpersonal distance. Beyond quantification, the luminous feedback materializes affective data, transforming social gestures into somatic awareness. Grounded in somaesthetic design and critical materiality, the project investigates how sensing systems and computational materials can mediate care, empathy, and bodily diversity. By merging digital fabrication and responsive matter, Proximity Ruff proposes an alternative notion of wearable technology, one that restores intimacy and reconfigures the postdigital body as a porous, relational, and emotionally intelligent system.
Keywords
Fashion tech; Wearable Technology; Speculative Design; Postdigital Body.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.879
Citation
Micelisopo, M., and Musto, M. (2026) Proximity Ruff: Rehabilitating relationality through postdigital bodies, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.879
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Proximity Ruff: Rehabilitating relationality through postdigital bodies
Proximity Ruff explores embodied interaction and social care through a wearable device that translates human proximity into light. Designed within The Spark Design Research Studio (Naples, Italy), it reinterprets the historical ruff as a postdigital interface that re-educates the body to closeness after the pandemic. Generated through evolutionary algorithms and 3D-printed in bioplastic PLA, the piece embeds 72 LEDs and proximity sensors that visualize interpersonal distance. Beyond quantification, the luminous feedback materializes affective data, transforming social gestures into somatic awareness. Grounded in somaesthetic design and critical materiality, the project investigates how sensing systems and computational materials can mediate care, empathy, and bodily diversity. By merging digital fabrication and responsive matter, Proximity Ruff proposes an alternative notion of wearable technology, one that restores intimacy and reconfigures the postdigital body as a porous, relational, and emotionally intelligent system.