Inventor of 'Projection Jewelry' Asks, 'Are We Willing to Abandon Atoms of Gold for the Waves of Light?'

The makers of NECLUMI, a projection-based interactive necklace, ask the provocative question, “Are we willing to abandon atoms of gold for the waves of light?” We may be biased, but we have to chime in with a resounding, “No.”

Still, the concept of “jewelry” made from pulsing and undulating light patterns beamed onto the wearer's neck via a palm-sized pico projector is fascinating.

Poland-based panGenerator boldly calls NECLUMI “a probable future of jewelry.” In its current prototype form, NECLUMI is based on an iPhone app, where the user can choose from four distinctive “jewelry” patterns — Airo, Roto, Movi and Sono. Each one has the ability to react to the user’s movement and environment.

For instance, Airo utilizes the smartphone’s pedometer to emit thin horizontal bands of light that vary by the user’s walking speed. Roto uses the smartphone’s compass to gauge the body’s position, and rotates the globe-like “jewelry” image accordingly. Movi is a curved-shaped graphic that bends with the body’s movement. This works off the smartphone’s accelerometer. And Sono radiates pixels of light in a graphic that looks that the sun during a full eclipse. The activity of pixels bursting from the darkened circle is dependent on the ambient sound in the location. The smartphone’s microphone is used for this function.

Although the maker is confident that fast-moving improvements in the miniaturization of projection technology will make the user experience more comfortable in the future, for now the body installation of NECLUMI is a bit cumbersome. The pico projector needs to be mounted to the wearer’s chest and wired with an HDMI cord to a smartphone. The smallest pico projectors currently on the market measure 4.2 inches by 2.9 inches, have a thickness of 0.8 inches and weigh a little more than five ounces.

Although panGenerator is predicting that projection-based jewelry will become a reality in a few years, the company is not quite ready to go to market with NECLUMI. It’s currently seeking “funding and collaboration” to get the project to the next level.

Check out the promo video for NECLUMI below…

NECLUMI - a probable future of jewellery from ◥ panGenerator on Vimeo.

Screen captures via panGenerator on Vimeo