Background
Stern was born in Florida and grew up in Ashford, Connecticut.
Stern was born in Florida and grew up in Ashford, Connecticut.
She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design in 2007, and studied interaction design and sculpture at graduate programs at Arizona State University.
Her work combines electronics, textile crafts, and fashion through the use of physical computing technologies like Arduino, 3D printing, and e-textiles. She returned to New York in 2009 without completing her graduate degree. From 2007 to 2012 Stern worked as a blogger and senior video producer for MAKE and CRAFT magazines, where she produced tutorials and videos about crafts and embedding electronics in clothes and home goods.
From 2012 to February 15, 2016 Stern was Director of Wearable Electronics at New York City-based Adafruit Industries.
Stern also holds an adjunct faculty position at School of Visual Arts in New York City, is a fellow with the online Free Art and Technology Laboratory (FAT), and has participated in events with the Brooklyn combine Madagascar Institute. Compubody Knitted Interface (2008) - sweater that fits around the wearer"s head & laptop, providing privacy and warmth.
CAPTCHA Paintings (2008) - hand-painted versions of the CAPTCHA tests used by websites to prevent spam robots. LilyPad Embroidery (2008) - hand embroidery sampler featuring LilyPad Arduino microcontroller
television-B-Gone Jacket (2008/2011) - hoodie with embedded television-B-Gone remote control and conductive thread zipper switch
ASCII Heart Necklace (2009) - emoticon pendant from laser-cut silver
Sparkle Skirt (2013) - motion-activated circuit with sewable components lights up when wearer dances
Citi Bike Helmet (2013) - Global Positioning System and LED bicycle helmet navigates wearer to nearest bike share station
Firewalker LED Sneakers (2013) - shoes with wrap-around LED strip and pressure sensors animate wearer’s steps
Radio Frequency IDentification Manicure (2014) - NFC tag embedded in nail polish to interact with Android phones
Stern has shown projects at the San Francisco Museum of Craft & Folk Art (2009), Bildmuseet in Umeå, Sweden, and Gizmodo Gallery.
Her work has been featured on G4TV, Cable News Network, Creators Project, Fast Company, Wired, British Broadcasting Corporation, Business Insider and Forbes.