Touched by scent: Sensitive Shoes

‘Touched By Scent’ is an interdisciplinary pilot project that describes a collection of ‘holistic’ clothing and footwear, following on from my ‘SmartSecondSkin’ and ‘e.Scent’ projects, and experience in the fashion, fragrance and healthcare sectors.

This collection provides the foundation for the future development of wearable items that change with human emotion, by studying the mind, brain and immunology system, and advancing knowledge and understanding of ‘multi-sensory fashion’, and in particular fragrance ingredients and its impact on mental health.

My research seeks to combine applied theories about well-being with multi-sensory design, to create experimental strategies to improve self and social confidence for individuals suffering from depression. The range of methodologies employed extended the project’s relevance beyond the realm of fashion, to areas such as cognitive behavioural therapy, neuroscience, gerontology, human sensory systems, psychiatry and ‘alternative therapies’.

By analysing AromaChology (the science of fragrance) and ‘PsychoNeuroImmunology’, that explores the connection between emotional stress and the health of the physical body, my project was presented to the medical, wireless and textile industries to help them understand this ‘holistic’ approach to fashion, as a vehicle to treat psychological conditions.

By analysing Reflexology (a massage system to treat illness), I designed a pair of shoes that offered ‘emotional well-being’ once sensitive electronic pads were pressed that corresponded with reflexology points, causing a gentle glow from the underside of the sole. The foot touched on the solar plexus point, the centre of emotional energy, so that the act of walking is healing.

Jenny Tillotson

Research Interests

Applying novel ways to create fashion, textiles and interactive structures, by introducing responsive effects that changes the experience of fragrance to a more intimate communication of identity, using the olfaction as a communication tool, with a focus on the relationship between Aromachology and wellbeing.

Current Research

Interdisciplinary Sensory Designer working with our most primitive sense (olfaction). Researching a new wave of sensory systems that identifies a new method of aroma delivery, by bridging the gap between imagineering and implementation, and seeking to better understand and evaluate the opportunities for enhancing the human condition, opened up by the advancement of technology.

Senior Research Fellow at Central Saint Martins (CSM), in the field of fashion, textiles, wellbeing and sustainability, leading the ‘Scentsory Design®’ initiative, with a strong design awareness to meet peoples needs, stemming from work experience in the healthcare sector (geriatric, psychiatric care and people living with HIV and AIDS), and developing design-led wearable technologies, wireless sensor networks and microfluidic devices for fragrance delivery and therapeutic applications in emotional, functional clothing and jewellery.

Significant contributor to the field of ‘Scentsory’ design-led wearable technologies, as a new vehicle for the delivery of treatment from psychological conditions, but also to help understand our emotions (75% of the emotions that we generate on a daily basis are affected by smell) and the art behind the science.

Leadership experience at the cutting edge of aroma and healthcare, by converging emerging technologies with the ancient art of perfumery, to create a new sustainable platform that breaks the tradition of fragrance delivery (via precisely metered responsive fragrance and targeted delivery and release which replaces the relatively crude, unmetered technology of the twentieth century).

Fashion communicator combining applied theories about human wellbeing with multi-sensory design, to create experimental strategies to improve self and social confidence for individuals suffering from depressive illnesses. The range of methodologies employed extend beyond the academic realm of fashion and design, to areas such as neuroscience, gerontology, human sensory systems and affective states, psychiatry, entomology, wireless communications, chemistry and the growing trend of Complementary Medicine (CAM).