Designing for Embodied Care Through Wearables: Enhancing Relational Awareness With Multi-Sensorial Textiles

This paper explores how to design for embodied care through somatic interactions with multi-sensorial textile wearables. It investigates how interactive textile artefacts can nurture relational awareness and enhance sensorimotor engagement, fostering physical and mental well-being. Using a Research Through Design approach, the study involved collaboration between a design researcher and a movement artist and iterative engagements with participants. Through three design iterations, a series of soft, close-to-body prototypes were developed to support micro-movements, sensations and emotions through touch. Findings suggest that these artefacts function as active agents co-creating experiences with the wearer. This research contributes to the understanding of sensorial clothing by highlighting its potential to promote care, connection and sustainable design practices.