‘Farewell is still beautiful’’ is a jacket that gives emotional comfort through warm lights on the back of the person leaving after a goodbye hug with someone. When the wearer hugs, soft sensors embedded on the jacket check the act of hugging by sensing the contact with the other, then turn on the LEDs lights on the back. A total of 6 soft sensors are attached to both shoulders, arms, and waist, and a total of 101 Neopixel RGB LEDs are modularized to fit the length. These parts are controlled by Arduino to create patterns of light when hugged. As the hugging moment lasts longer, the longer the duration of the blinking light pattern in proportion. Additionally, the color of the light patterns varies from yellow to green depending on the hugging time. People hug each other as a bodily expression of greetings. There are two kinds of hugs in greetings: one meaning ‘Hi’, and the other meaning ‘Bye’. This work focuses on the meaning of ‘Bye’ in a hug. Hugging and saying goodbye to someone we love evokes feelings of dreariness, especially when we look behind the back of the person leaving after a departing hug. A poem titled, ‘Nakhwa’ by poet Hyeong-gi Lee expresses how beautiful the back of the person leaving’.  In a similar context, I intend this jacket to give a feeling of beauty and comfort for the person seeing the person who is leaving.

Date : 2021