Pauline Saglio is a media and interaction designer whose unconventional approach to the practice focusses on the merging of tangible and digital objects. Having studied at both Penninghen’s School of Art and the Atelier de Sevre School of Art, she eventually transferred to ECAL/University of Art and Design in Lausanne, where she is now a teacher in the Visual Communication Department.
Born in Paris, Saglio’s complex work challenges the notion that highly digital and interactive projects are incompatible. Using mainly analogue objects, she works to change the general perceptions people have of interactive and digital projects. On the Design Indaba 2017 conference stage, the accomplished creative demonstrated these capabilities through a selection of her most impressive projects.
“When you think of digital media and interaction,” she says, “you might think of computers, touch screens and smartphones. People often think that everything related to new technology and the digital world is something cold, that keeps us apart from everything manual.”
Saglio’s work challenges these norms.
Rewind – which served as her diploma project at ECAL – is a project that demands that the user experience the process of time in a more physical way than just a cursory glance at a cell phone screen. Using iPad-like screens, each display is manually rewound to start an animation that depicts minutes passing. With this project, Saglio wanted to return to the concept of time the precious and intimate relationship she feels it deserves.
In another project, this one a collaborative effort with Italian fashion house Emilio Pucci, Saglio used the brand’s famous patterned scarf to demonstrate the possibilities of interaction and valorisation for an unworn item of clothing. The designer framed and hung the scarves, which she first equipped with lights and sounds that alter the perception of the physical object, offering viewers a fully interactive experience that stimulates all the senses.
To learn more about Saglio’s remarkable work, watch the speaker talk above, the post-conference interview with the designer, and be sure visit her website.
Watch the Interview with Pauline Saglio
