Following their collaboration in 2021, Art by Physicist and ASCA are working together again by launching a contest to promote the integration of solar energy into fashion. The physicist and artist Dr. Kitty Yeung, founder of Art by Physicist, has officially started the competition during the Open Source Hardware Summit in New York on April 28. The contest is hosted by the platform Hackster.

Applicants should submit a description of their project with their story, design ideas, photos and/or videos of their prototypes by May 31. A group of judges made of creative technologists and tech-fashion designers, supported by an online people´s choice, will decide on the five semi-finalists. Their projects will then be developed with the help of Art by Physicist, worth of $10,000 value, to go to market via Kickstarter.

Crowdfunding campaign

The semi-finalists whose designs receive 20 or more orders from the Kickstarter campaign will get unique solar modules from ASCA and support from Art by Physicist to not only bring their creations to life, but also to manufacture and to ship them to the customers on an on-demand basis. In addition, they will receive rewards from the Kickstarter orders. Five percent of the backer pledge will be donated to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) education and environmental non-profits.

“It is always a pleasure to work with designers from the fashion world and see how they make use of ASCA® solar modules to imagine new functionalities. Our custom solutions allow for a wide range of applications, and we look forward to seeing how the applicants integrate them into their designs,” Olivier Portier, Head of Business Development at ASCA, explains. ASCA´s solutions offer endless possibilities regarding the shape, size, pattern, adaptable power output and choice of color and can easily be integrated into textiles. Dr. Kitty Yeung has, for example, designed a cocktail dress and an overcoat with ASCA´s solar power films.

Creating unique and eco-friendly on-demand designs

“Hackster Contests is a platform for hosting hardware design challenges that invites makers, devel-opers, and engineers from around the world to participate and showcase their creativity and technical skills. These contests have been proven as one of the best developer-enabling tools used by leading companies in the technology industry to offer participants the opportunity to win prizes, gain recogni-tion, and connect with other like-minded individuals. Inspired and co-created with Dr. Kitty Yeung, we are excited to call upon the emerging couture design community to enter Hackster’s first-ever techxfashion-themed contest. We're looking forward to seeing what contest participants come up with in their design, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with embedded hardware design in clothing, and helping their design be brought to life, “ Jinger Zeng, Contest Manager at Hackster, explains.
“We are very fortunate to collaborate with ASCA and Hackster.io again. This time, we are bringing the most cutting-edge wearable technologies to the makers and designers for everyone to use in their designs and we are helping them produce and go to market. We can’t wait to see what people create,” Kitty Yeung says.

Art by Physicist´s mission is to promote an intellectual representation of women and to support STEAM education and environmental protection through ethical and sustainable production. The company operates on an on-demand production model and donates a portion of their sales to environmental and STEAM education non-profits.