Thomas Edison was working on a patent for the electric light bulb in the late 1870’s, and I think it’s safe to assume that he was a lit-tle too busy to think about the development of glowing textiles.  Lucky for those of us living in 2010, Japan’s Tsuya Textile Co. and Fukui Engineering Center have marshalled their respective resources to address the appalling lack of light-emitting fabric that has long plagued mankind.

Image courtesy core77

Delight Cloth consists of superthin fiber optic strands woven into a tapestry.  But while Delight Cloth emits light with aplomb, it can’t generate the stuff on its own.  You’ll need to connect a 100W or 150W halogen to one or both ends of the fabric “depending on what effect you want to achieve. You can even add a color controller and get a variety of colors, and yes, the technology can be integrated into clothing (though no word on where you hide the lightbulbs)” (Source: ubergizmo).  The next thing you know we’ll all be wearing glowing jumpsuits and ruffled light dresses like it’s no big thing…. 

Image courtesy core77

WU XING:

Water because the light flows through it and it’s flexible; fire because it glows.

Cited:

“Delight Cloth is a light emitting textile.” Ubergizmo 03/26/10.  Accessed 03/29/10.  URL.

hipstomp. “Transmaterial 3 sheds some light on Delight Cloth.”  Core77 03/24/10. Accessed 03/29/10.  URL.