Physical computing / 2011–2017
Tangeez

Circular in shape, individually powered and internally illuminated, Tangeez are both an interactive toy and a design object. Stack them together to create a spectrum of colours that change as you rearrange.
Tangeez were born out of the desire to make “interactivity” simple, beautiful and tangible. They use the same RGB (red, green, blue) colour system as the screens all around us, but these “physical pixels” create a tactile, interactive and often social experience.
The idea started because I wished I’d had an interactive building block growing up. We first brought them to Maker Faire in 2011, and there we “were able to see how people would play with them without us saying much about it.”
One Tangee can’t work on its own. It needs another Tangee, or a base plate, to illuminate.
Each Tangee has three prongs on the top, three holes on the bottom, and one three-colour LED in the middle. Connect one prong and you’ll see one colour, red, green or blue, depending on the hole you choose. Two prongs mix two colours… three prongs, three colours. The more you change and rearrange, the more colours you create.
- With
- Emily Webster
- Kickstarter, 2013
- $51,371 from 413 backers
- Sold
- About 5,000 by late 2014
- Recognition
- Maker Faire Editor’s Choice, two years running · Finalist, New York’s Next Top Makers · Kickstarter Staff Pick




