This 3D printed garment can change shape when looked at

US-based artist and architect Behnaz Farahi has designed a cropped tunic called Caress of the Gaze that is made of small fibres, which expand and contract when it senses it is being watched. The interactive 3D printed garment has a concealed eye-tracking camera and a microcontroller that allows it to track the gazes of people which trigger the fibres to move automatically.

"What if our outfit could recognize and respond to the gaze of the other?" Farahi writes on her website. "This is an interactive 3D printed wearable, which can detect other people's gaze and respond accordingly with life-like behaviour."

The project "was inspired by nature both in terms of its morphology and behavior, especially various reptile and animal skins, such as snake and fish scale systems," Farahi told Clausette Magazine. Farahi added: "Inspired by the flexible behaviour of the skin itself, this outfit therefore exhibits different material characteristics in various parts of the body ranging from stiff to soft."

Farahi, who is also studying for her PhD at the University of Southern California, said the garment can even differentiate between genders and she hopes her design will one day be able to differentiate between ages, which she said might be included into her future designs. This isn't Farahi's debut into 3D printed garments. Earlier, she was involved in 3D projects that included a flexible collar and helmet.

The project was made with the support of Autodesk Pier9 and Madworkshop Foundation. Farahi's website does not disclose more specifics about the interactive 3D wearable garment. However, it says more details are forthcoming. The interactive 3D wearable garment will be showcased at the Pier 9 Artist in Residence exhibition in San Francisco in November.