Patten Studio

A throwback to prototyping Version 1 of Lift in our old space on Flatbush Avenue. Time flies! (And so does light!) Lift is a motorless kinetic light fixture that responds to human motion. Footage shot by?Camille Tokerud. #interactiondesign?#interactive?#lightingdesign?#kineticart?#nitinol?#invention?#researchanddevelopment

First test assembly of Light Loom for the Science Mill in the studio after dark. The LED spotlight was rigged with a Patten Studio Exponent driver to flash RGB light sequentially to create the persistence of vision effect of "unraveling" light. (The kinetic arm that churns the rope also uses an Exponent motor controller.) James Patten shot by Hortense Duthilleux. #prototyping #designstudio #persistenceofvision #opticalillusion #childrensmuseum #additivecolor #STEAM

Throwback to prototyping Light Loom for the Science Mill. Typically our projects fit in the studio, but we didn't have the 40' vertical volume we needed to approximate the grain silo this piece was created to occupy. This video shows us testing Light Loom's waveform at scale, a range of different nautical rope diameters, and the security in the Wegmans parking lot. (The final artwork is silent, but we left in the clanking so you can imagine how confused the Wegmans security team was when they found us.) James Patten shot by Hortense Duthilleux. #prototyping #designstudio #persistenceofvision #opticalillusion #childrensmuseum #additivecolor #STEAM

Angle grinder going through steel. Just after moving all of our 2024 projects out of the studio our space is filling up again. #machineshop #fabrication #anglegrinder

Today we celebrated one of our studio’s double birthdays with Boozy Birthday Bingo and a measurement drawing contest. The birthday women did not bring their A game, but Theo and James tied for 5 centimeters and 3 inches, arriving within 3mm and 0.000something inches respectively during a controlled experiment. Photos taken on the new Nikon. ?? What’s your verdict on imperial vs metric? The studio has 1 imperial system enthusiast who we will allow to remain anonymous at this time. #nikon?#birthday?#officebirthday?#metricsystem?#imperialsystemsucks

Taking our new Vapor Phase 2 from PCB Arts out for a spin! This giant Exponent Controller is going to be used in a new project prototype. . . . PCB Arts GmbH #pcbdesign #prototyping #designstudio #soldering #creativetechnology

Part 2 of how we populate circuit boards in house for project prototyping. The Exponent Controller Sam is working on in this video has >300 parts that get hand placed onto the PCB using tweezers or a Pixel Pump vacuum. #prototyping #researchanddevelopment #electricaldesign #circuitboard #multicore #interactiondesign

After 19 years of research?and development we've built up a pretty sophisticated suite?of technologies that we refer?to collectively as Exponent (for "experiential components"). This is hardware and software designed specifically for art purposes: enabling interactive and kinetic installations. We're populating circuit boards in house this week to build a prototype for a new project and are using this as an opportunity to try out a new Multicore soldering paste from Harima Chemicals Group Inc. (The verdict isn't in yet, but things are looking really good!) #prototyping #researchanddevelopment #electricaldesign #circuitboard #multicore #interactiondesign

Lift uses low resolution thermal cameras to detect human motion, sending ripples through the artwork’s kinetic petals. A Patten Studio R&D project. Shot by Ty Cole. #futuredesign?#kineticart?#designstudio?#futuretechnology?#interactiondesign?#experientialretail?#prototyping?#researchanddevelopement

Lift is an interactive light feature that senses and responds to human activity. Each of Lift’s 24 geometric petals is embedded with a microcontroller, which receives data from one of six low resolution thermal cameras implanted in the vertebrae of the artwork’s spine. The contraction of Lift’s petals is achieved through the use of nitinol, or “muscle wire,” a shape memory alloy that shrinks when heated. Lift does not use any motors, and as a result its motion is completely silent. #interactivedesign #kineticart #futuredesign #designstudio #futuretech