Dhairya Dand is an Indian-born New York City based inventor and artist. His work investigates the human body as a medium for computation, new materials as a tool to embody interactions and design as a vehicle for mindfulness. His work takes form of devices, objects, installations, new technology and materials. Currently Dand is a Principal at ODD Industries, a futurist factory and lab in NYC, an artist in residence at the NEW Museum and on the scientific advisory board of the X PRIZE Foundation. Dand is a core member of the W3C Standards Committee which governs the Internet at large. He was a key member of Amazon’s secretive Concept Lab which invented several Alexa devices. He has taught conceptual design based courses at the Art Institute of Seattle, the Carnegie Mellon School of Design, Tisch School of the Arts and the MIT Design Innovation Workshops. Dand is a graduate of the Media, Arts and Sciences program at the MIT Media Lab.
Early life
Dand was born in Nashik, India to parents who were plumbers and storytellers. Dand attributes his cross-disciplinary work to being trained as a plumber by his father and listening to stories and mythologies by his mother. He attended Victoria Jubilee Technological Institute for an undergraduate in Computer Science and the Industrial Design Centre for courses in design. Dand later lived in Singapore, Phnom Penh, Tokyo, London before moving to the United States to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Works
Dand's inventions range from sensorial interfaces, smart devices, display technologies, Alexa, social systems, prosthesis, bio-based architecture, educational toys, emotional robots. In SuperShoes, Dand created insoles that work on a tickling interface, they tickle the feet and guide the wearer across the city. The insoles talk to the smartphone for location, data and access to the users personality preferences. The insoles help with navigation, reminders, taking mindful breaks, discovering new places in a city. In Programmable Hair, Dand made a contraption worn on the hair that allows the wearer to program their hairstyle, either by choosing from a library of hairstyles or by taking a picture of someone else's hairstyle. With Obake, Dand created a 2.5D elastic computer display technology that has shape memory. The display can be physically deformed, stretched, pulled, pushed. It remembers shapes and can self-actuate. While in Seattle, Dand was part of Amazon's secretive Concept Lab, where he is credited for key inventions and Alexa devices. Some of his inventions which are public, involve invisible interfaces and using hand gestures to use the air as a medium for computing. Dand's Cheers are alcohol aware ice-cubes that know how much the person is drinking. They change their colors depending on how much the person has consumed alcohol, they also strobe in response to the ambient music. Dand designed a bio-building that responds and reacts to its environment. During the day, cells in the building's 'membranes' open up, allowing for more ventilation; at night, they generate and conserve warmth. Dand's ThinkerToys are modular educational toys made from e-Waste which later led to an NGO called openTOYS. By plugging in these modules, a keyboard can be used as a piano, a mouse for language learning and speakers as storytelling devices. One of his early work was Lokshahi, which was a m-governance system for political transparency in rural India. Dand has also worked on several accessibility related inventions for emotional communication, autism and motor impairment.
Awards and Exhibits
Dand was named in the Forbes magazine's 30 under 30 list in 2016 and 2015. In 2015 Future of StoryTelling named him as a Fellow, he was one of ELLE magazine's 20 names to know and VOGUE's Cool People list. In 2014 WIRED named him as an Innovation Fellow, INK Talks named him as an INK Fellow. His work was selected by the Smithsonian as one of the 20 designs for the People's Choice Design Award. In 2013, he was one of the Boston Globe's Top 25 Innovators. He has presented at W3C's Annual Summit, Tencent's WE Summit, Tokyo Designers Week, WIRED Innovation Conference, INK Talks, TEDx events including TEDxHamburg and TEDxBerlin, the ICA and the MIT Media Lab. Dand's work has been exhibited at the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MIT Museum in Cambridge, Singapore Arts House and at international conferences including UIST St Andrews, CHI Paris, TEI Barcelona.
