Meg at Fashioning Technology interviews textiles artist Marta Kisand:

My MA thesis together with Volvo Technology in Sweden was about finding the possibilities for smart textile use in the automotive industry. There are many smart materials and technologies developed and available but not much of it has entered production. I was investigating the possible smart solutions for truck interiors which would help the driver to work and also spend leisure time in the cab. I was working with color change (thermo chromic) inks and light materials (LEDs and EL-wire). I created textile interfaces which communicated information to the driver and textiles which added comfort value into the small cab environment.

After graduation I travelled to Japan where I made an internship at Toyota Boshoku. I was working on a small city-car interior and created an illuminating textile for a headliner. I was able to produce smart textile materials at their factory on industrial weaving machines. This experience proved that it is possible to mass produce smart materials.