Year / 2023
Project Type / Speculative design, Speculative research
Class / Speculative Design with Prof. Nancy Smith
Project Owners / Esha M.
Jewelry has always held a unique power—a symbol of identity, protection, and strength that’s woven through cultures and histories. My project builds on this legacy by imagining a future where fashion goes beyond aesthetics to actively champion women’s safety. Through the speculative design of NanoCharm Enigma, a line of self-defense jewelry powered by embedded nanochips, fashion is redefined as a force for empowerment. When danger is detected, protective elements within each piece activate, shifting the meaning of vulnerability into a powerful statement of resilience.
This project opens essential conversations about wearable defense technology and its ethical dimensions. With body-integrated tech, privacy, bodily autonomy, and access become critical questions. How do we protect personal data embedded in these systems? Are there potential health impacts? And who can access these advancements? My project brings these questions forward, inviting us to rethink the balance between empowerment and responsibility as technology evolves.
Generative AI enhances the vision behind Empowered Adornments, acting as a speculative partner to explore future scenarios and conceptualize possibilities. Here, AI-generated visuals are designed as thought-starters, tools for ideation that don’t serve as end products. I'm confident that this approach keeps concept development within ethical bounds, honoring responsible use and distribution. Ultimately, Empowered Adornments leverages AI to help us imagine a world where fashion and safety intersect, with each piece standing for more than style—each one is a future-driven symbol of empowerment and protection.
Ethical Implications:
Creating wearable self-defense solutions raises ethical questions around privacy, bodily autonomy, and access. How will personal data be protected in a nanochip-embedded society? Are there long-term health risks of invasive tech embedded in the body? This speculative project recognizes these implications and invites dialogue on the responsibility of using emerging technologies to ensure users’ safety and well-being.
Learnings with Generative AI in Speculative Design:
Leveraging generative AI allows for an expanded ideation process and creative speculation on future scenarios. Here, AI-generated visuals serve as concept vehicles—sparking ideas rather than producing end products. This approach emphasizes AI art as an ideation tool, respecting ethical boundaries around ownership and distribution while enhancing future-thinking design exploration.
