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Helen Koo, Lighted Recycled T-shirt Rain

Father Hennepin Park

Lighted Recycled T-shirt Rain

Inspiration of design: see it, feel it, touch it, share it.
Lighted Recycled T-shirt Rain (LRTR) is an interior ceiling light made with recycled T-shirts decorated with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and electroluminescence (EL), hung from the ceiling with transparent wires. This art piece, which can be an actual light source, was inspired by sustainability, technology, and fashion. As fast fashion becomes a major trend, its harmful influences, such as increasing amounts of waste from the fashion industry on the environment, the economy, and society, are revealed.

Lighted Recycled T-shirt Rain encourages consumers to think about sustainability when buying garments. A fashion designer and a researcher, Helen S. Koo centers on sustainability and technology as she works with LEDs, ELs, fiber optics, and other electric lighting technologies in fashion and interior design. She applies her expertise in sustainability and lighting technology to Lighted Recycled T-shirt Rain for Northern Spark.

Lighted Recycled T-shirt Rain not only expresses an idea regarding sustainable fashion but also allows people to touch, walk through, take pictures, and have fun with the artwork. Visitors actually see, feel, and interact with it. Koo made this art to share with others and wants them to get involved by walking and sitting in the rain of the lighted T-shirts and naturally thinking about sustainability and fashion while enjoying the art.