Opulent Mobility: Making Assistive Devices Fabulous & Fun

When Laura A. Brody’s partner suffered a stroke, Brody got to know the assistive device landscape. She learned that while wheelchairs, walkers and the like do their jobs well, they’re ugly — insultingly so. Why don’t we trick them out, she wondered?

“Why aren’t they fun, right? Why wouldn’t you want to make these fabulous at every part of your life?” Brody told KCRW.

The answer, she guessed, lies in our discomfort with the idea of disintegration and mortality. “But that’s pretty crappy for the people using them…. It might be pretty cool if we turned them into something desirable, maybe even worthy of envy.” After all, we’re living longer, but we haven’t found cures for the diseases that affect mobility.

So Brody, a costume maker and designer, came up with Opulent Mobility, an international exhibition of assistive device–related art, design and invention that marries fun and whimsy with a “why not?” attitude.

It started with her own designs. “Le Flaneur,” she writes, “is a Victorian-inspired walker with attached parasol, cow horns, compass and a GPS unit…. The hand grips are crowned with crystal doorknobs.”

(Click to Continue)

Full Article & Source:
Opulent Mobility: Making Assistive Devices Fabulous & Fun