Jenny Tillotson

Dr Jenny Tillotson is a Senior Research Fellow in Fashion & Textiles at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, an Associate of the British Society of Perfumers and a member of the UAL Research Centre; Fashion The Body & Material Cultures. She received her PhD in Printed Textiles from the Royal College of Art and BA in Fashion Communication from Central Saint Martins.

Her research investigates 'Scentsory Design®', which seeks to break the tradition of scent delivery by developing wearable wireless sensor networks and microfluidic devices for fragrances and therapeutic applications in ‘Emotional Fashion'.

She has exhibited internationally, published in both science and design journals and won awards from the AHRC, EPSRC, Materials KTN, EEDA and NESTA. In October 2008, she won an award from the Research Councils Business Plan Competition 2008, and in 2006 was nominated for a ‘FiFi' Award for breakthrough progress in the fragrance industry.

Prior to her academic work she was a stylist and worked for a MIT Media Lab spin-out company specialising in Wearable Technology. Her interest in ‘Emotional Fashion' stems from work experience in the healthcare sector (geriatric and psychiatric care and offering emotional support to people living with HIV and AIDS).

She has consulted for NIKE and Unilever and was a member of the Design London ‘incubator' at Imperial College, Royal College of Art and Tanaka Business Centre. She is an entrepreneur in Cambridge, a leading global technology cluster where she is currently establishing her fashion technology company Sensory Design & Technology with Professor Andreas Manz (a pioneer of lab-on-a-chip).

She has recently been appointment a STEM Science & Engineering Ambassador as a role model from less traditional sectors (Fashion and Textiles)

Jenny's research centres on finding and applying novel ways of creating responsive fashion, textiles and jewellery, by changing the experience of fragrance to a more intimate communication of identity. Using the olfactory sense as a communication tool, with a particular focus on the relationship between aromas and emotional well-being, her research investigates the interface between the arts and biomedical sciences, around new emerging technologies and science platforms and their applications in the domain of health and well-being.

As a practitioner her research topics include: employing emerging technologies with the ancient art of perfumery to create novel olfactory experiences in textiles that are not as passive as current capsulated capsule systems; intelligent fabrics inspired by neurobiological delivery mechanisms found under skin; controlled-release delivery of precisely metered sensory ingredients (e.g. fragrances) in response to user-driven stimuli in design-led wearable technologies; development of ‘holistic' textiles to deliver stress-reducing aromas with mood-enhancing properties.

Recent exhibitions include:
- ‘Bugs Bazaar', Craft and Design Gallery, January 2009, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield
- ‘Exploring Innovation', ‘Well-being At Work' exhibition, July 2008, Royal College Of Art, London
- ‘eScent®', RCUK Business Plan Competition, October 2008, Chelsea Football Club, London
- ‘Smart Second Skin', ‘Touch Me' exhibition, June 2005, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Wellcome Trust, London

Research Projects
• eScent®

• Smart Second Skin

Publications

- Design & Scent 2008
Design & Scent', co-author Ben Hughes in book ‘Design & Emotion Moves' published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing', edited by Pieter Desmet, MariAnne Karlsson, Jeroen van Erp for the Design & Emotion Conference, Hong Kong Poly University ISBN 13: 978-1-4438-0016-7

- Fashion Fluidics 2006
‘Fashion Fluidics' CCIS (Communication In Computer & Communication Science) "Transdisciplinary Digital Art: Sound, Vision & the New Screen. Digital Art Weeks and Interactive Futures 2006/2007, Zurich, Switzerland and Victoria, BC, Canada, Selected Papers. Adams, R., Gibson, S., Müller Arisona, S. (Eds.), Vol. 7, 2008, Springer ISBN: 978-3-540-79485-1

- Scent Whisper 2006
‘Scent Whisper', Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) MEMS Sensors & Actuators seminar, paper co-author Prof A.Manz & Dr G.Jenkins, page 97- 104 ISBN: 0537-9989 ISBN: 0-86341-627-6

- Scent By A Wireless Web 2005
Wearable Futures Conference, Publisher University of Wales, paper: ‘Scent By A Wireless Web' ISBN:1-899274-34-0