Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman is a leading expert in designing for wearable technology using smart textiles. Her experience as an industrial designer, researcher, author, and professor at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn led to the development of Interwoven Design Group, an interdisciplinary design practice where she blurs the lines between design and technology. Rebeccah has over 25 years of experience designing products for athletes, and has held positions as Design Director for Nike, Champion and Fila. She is also founding director of the Intelligent Materials Applied Research and Innovation (IMARI) Lab at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and a former research fellow at the T-Lab for Wearable Technology at the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator.

Rebeccah’s work as Founder and Principal of Interwoven Design Group, blends her experience in the lab, classroom and private practice. She is pioneering research in design methodologies, smart materials and wearables including her BioWear, project a kinetic accessory that communicated emotions, recently on display at the Biet Ha’ir Museum and now on tour in Coded Couture show across the US. Some of her recent projects include WithMe a wearable baby monitor, Remo Haptic Training, a smart knee sleeve and the Delta Glove, a connected weight training tool. She has won grant funding from Intel, The NYC Media Lab COMBINE and Verizon Connected Futures. Her unique vision has been realized internationally and she speak globally on wearables and her work. She is the author of the recently launched book Smart Textiles for Designers: Inventing the Future of Fabrics by Laurence King Publishers, London.