When most people think about the future of wearable technology, they picture Apple Watches and FitBit bracelets that are more affordable and wornas commonly as underwear. However, Becky Stern pictures a jacket whose zipper shuts off the annoying TVs in her favorite bar, a GPS dog harness that track’s her dog’s run, or a skirt with embedded LED sensors that sparkles as she moves. Then she sews and programs them, and shares for free what she’s made and how-to make it in detailed step-by-step tutorials online.
Though Stern has been sewing, tinkering, photographing, filming and editing things since at least the age of eight, she didn’t combine all of her skills until attending Parsons Design and Tech program. At Parsons she made one of her first electronic craft projects: a set of plush steaks embedded with LEDs. (They symbolized the “radiation process most American beef goes through during processing.”) In graduate school, Stern started producing video tutorials for MAKE—a passion project that eventually turned into a full-time gig.