Becky Stern

Becky Stern (born January 29, 1985) is an American expert in DIY technology based in New York City.[1] Her work combines electronics, textile crafts, and fashion through the use of physical computing technologies like Arduino, 3D printing, and e-textiles.

Becky Stern
Born
Rebecca Stern

(1985-01-29) January 29, 1985
Florida
NationalityAmerican
EducationBFA Design and Technology, Parsons School of Design
Known forDIY, crafts, new media
Notable work
Knitted Laptop Compubody Sock, CAPTCHA paintings, LilyPad Arduino Embroidery, ASCII heart necklace, TV-B Gone Jacket, Adafruit FLORA

Early life

Stern was born in Florida and grew up in Ashford, Connecticut.[2] As a child, she developed an interest in and learned crafts by the example of her parents who cooked and practiced various sorts of sewing. Her interest in videography was born when at the age of five and a half she recorded her parents framing an addition to their home.[3] She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design in 2007.[4] It was there that she developed an interest in electronics and programming by hacking toys and building her own. Around this time Stern started sharing her school projects and tutorials online.[3] Beginning in 2007, Stern began studying interaction design and sculpture at graduate programs at Arizona State University.[4] She returned to New York in 2009 without completing her graduate degree.[2]

Career

From 2007 to 2012 Stern worked as a blogger and senior video producer for MAKE[5] and CRAFT magazines. She produced tutorials and videos about crafts and how to embed electronics in clothes and home goods.[2]

From 2012 to 2016, Stern was the Director of Wearable Electronics at NYC-based Adafruit Industries, where she published weekly video tutorials on do-it-yourself crafts and technology.[6][7][8] She then became Content Creator at Instructables.[9]

Stern holds an adjunct faculty position at School of Visual Arts in New York City.[10] She's a member of the Brooklyn art combine Madagascar Institute and the Free Art & Technology Lab (F.A.T. Lab).[11] Her artwork was featured in F.A.T. Gold: Five Years of Free Art & Technology, a retrospective of F.A.T. Lab's work, at Eyebeam[12], MU Eindhoven[13], and Gray Area Foundation for the Arts.[14]

Her projects have also shown at the San Francisco Museum of Craft & Folk Art,[15] Bildmuseet in Umeå, Sweden,[16] and Gizmodo Gallery.[17]

Personal Life

Stern is an avid motorcyclist.[18]

Projects
  • Compubody Knitted Interface (2008) - sweater that fits around the wearer's head & laptop, providing privacy and warmth.
  • CAPTCHA Paintings (2008) - hand-painted versions of the CAPTCHA tests used by websites to prevent spam robots.
  • LilyPad Embroidery (2008) - hand embroidery sampler featuring LilyPad Arduino microcontroller
  • TV-B-Gone Jacket (2008/2011) - hoodie with embedded TV-B-Gone remote control and conductive thread zipper switch
  • ASCII Heart Necklace (2009) - emoticon pendant from laser-cut silver
  • Sparkle Skirt (2013) - motion-activated circuit with sewable components lights up when wearer dances
  • Citi Bike Helmet (2013) - GPS and LED bicycle helmet navigates wearer to nearest bike share station
  • Firewalker LED Sneakers (2013) - shoes with wrap-around LED strip and pressure sensors animate the wearer’s steps
  • RFID Manicure (2014) - NFC tag embedded in nail polish to interact with Android phones
gollark: Now to work out how to apply this *usefully*.
gollark: I should probably add linebreaks.
gollark: Most of these don't even seem to contain bees? Weird.
gollark: Wow, a lot of people are saying bees.
gollark: Muahahaha. I am now monitoring all instances of "bees" on Twitter in near-real time.

References
  1. Cooper, Daniel (November 7, 2014). "Adafruit's Becky Stern knows why we don't have stylish wearables yet". Engadget. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  2. Dale, Brady (June 27, 2014). "Adafruit's wearables director will show you how to light up a room (literally)". Technical.ly Brooklyn. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  3. Osborn, Steven (2013). Makers at Work. Apress. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-4302-5993-0.
  4. "CV". Becky Stern. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  5. "Becky Stern, Author at Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers". Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  6. Orin, Andy. "I'm Becky Stern of Adafruit, and This Is How I Work". Lifehacker. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  7. "Becky Stern". Gray Area Art & Technology. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  8. "CV". Becky Stern. 2008-10-27. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  9. "About". Becky Stern. 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  10. "Stern Bio — Products of Design | SVA". Products of Design. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  11. "Tech+Textile: An Introduction to Wearable Electronics Workshop". Eyebeam. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  12. "F.A.T. GOLD". Eyebeam. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  13. "MU | F.A.T. GOLD Europe". www.mu.nl. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  14. "F.A.T. GOLD: San Francisco". Gray Area Art & Technology. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  15. Stern, Becky (September 24, 2009). "Open Source Embroidery in San Francisco". Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  16. Ganapati, Priya (2009-06-12). "Geek Art: Needlework Brings Together Programmers, Crafters". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  17. Mets, Matt (September 23, 2009). "Gizmodo Gallery is this week in NYC". Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  18. "Bikers You Should Know: Becky Stern". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
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