Skin has become inadequate in interfacing with reality. Technology has become the body’s new membrane of existence.
– Nam June Paik
Zsófi Lévai is a fashion-tech designer who is interested in Human-Computer interactions, and the new kinds of shared experiences that can be invented, exploring the endless possibilities of the Digital Age.
Zsófi’s background is quite unusual. She has always been interested in art but because fashion is also a business, she knew at some point that she was going to start her own business, so she did her BA degree in economics. After that she founded her own fashion brand in Budapest as a designer. She did that for 4 years and her collections were shown at some of the biggest Hungarian fashion events. She realized she would like to develop herself more, so she did her MA degree in fashion design in Moholy Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME). During that time she specialized in wearable technology, especially integrating electronics into the material making the technology truly wearable.
Zsófi’s multidisciplinary interests are quite wide, she has experimented with different media and modes of expression over the years. From high-end tailoring techniques, traditional knitting and textile manipulation, to the latest technologies like digital capturing, processing reflective material, 3D modelling, 3D printing, laser-cutting, developing haptic interfaces, building soft circuits and creative interactive garments for artistic expression.
How we express ourselves is already changing, how we integrate technology into our social interactions. Smart, wearable technology offers us the opportunity to express ourselves in new ways, ways we haven’t even begun to explore. We can creatively use technology to find new connections between human and human, between humans and computers, or between humans and the outside world. Using new smart flexible layer around our body our senses can be expanded and interchanged, evolving the process of perception.
AWARDS
2019 – Moholyi Nagy Design Scholarship
2018 – 2nd prize at Telekom Fashion Fusion Challange
2018 – Highlights of Hungary nominee/
2017 – Graduation Project – selected by International Design Review
2017 – Best Hungarian Designer /Gombold Újra!- Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Central Europe/
EXHIBITIONS
2019 – New York Fashion Tech Week – POWER of PROXIMITY presentation
2019 – Europe Fashion Passport – Sarajevo – POWER of PROXIMITY collection
2019 – Tallin Design Week exhibition – INTERKNITTING collection
2019 – Kolorado Festiaval & Trafo House – Budapest – BONDING performance with POWER of PROXIMITY collection
2019 – House of Contemporary Arts Budapest – NEXT Fest – BONDING performance with POWER of PROXIMITY collection
2019 – Berlin Fashion Week / Fashion Tech Day – POWER of PROXIMITY collection
2018 – International Symposium on Wearble Computers Singapore – POWER of PROXIMITY collection
2018 – NORMCORE exhibition – Design for disability Budapest
2018 – Brain Bar Budapest – INTERKNITTING collection
2018 – Budapest Central European Fashion Week – INTERKNITTING collection
2018 – Berlin Fashion Week / FashionTech exhibition – INTERKNITTING collection
2017 – Nearness of Sensors – INTERKNITTING collection – ELTE IoT department
2017 – MOME diploma exhibition – INTERKNITTING collection
2016 – TEXTURA 2016, Hungarian National Gallery
English 
Magyar