Calling all tinkerers, makers, hackers, artists, designers, and creative technologists. Spend time in the California College of the Arts (CCA) Hybrid Lab, an interactive electronic makerspace where students explore their artistic voice by prototyping designs with sensors, motors, creative coding, AI, and much more! No experience is necessary—just bring your curiosity!
In this hands-on session, you’ll learn to program your very own interactive DIY wristwatch. You’ll walk away with the M5StickC PLUS 2, a palm‑sized IoT development kit with a built-in LCD screen, buzzer, button, microphone, gyroscope, and much more—all at your disposal to customize and interact with. This device empowers you to reform your own technology– programming it to do whatever you want it to!
Hosted by the Design Division and led by CCA creative technologist Romy Aboudarham, this workshop features custom materials and prototyping design principles taught in the Hybrid Lab, developed in collaboration with faculty member Dr. Sudhu Tewari.
For guests who want to continue tinkering and playing with the device, we highly encourage you to bring your own laptop (PC or MAC). If you are bringing your own computer, you will need to download the Arduino Software beforehand.
We will have Mac laptops with the software ready to go for those who prefer just to show up and play. For those who get the programming bug, you can always download the software in your own time after the workshop.
Workshop Fee: $50 per person. Attendees will take home a DIY interactive watch programmed with Arduino software!
Hosted by California College of the Art’s Design Division.
California College of the Arts cultivates ideas, industry, and impact in the progressive San Francisco Bay Area, educating our students as global changemakers through purposeful practice and critical discourse. The Design Division at CCA advances contemporary practice by positioning the designer as a dynamic agent of cultural, social, and ecological change.
Romy Aboudarham is a creative technologist and immersive designer. They have a B.S. in Computer Science from Tufts University School of Engineering. They’re passionate about exploring how we can use technology as a tool for empathy-driven storytelling and deepening our connection with ourselves and others. Romy has a wide range of art and tech skills on their toolbelt, creating historical walking tours in Augmented Reality, therapeutic experiences about grief in Virtual Reality, and countless interactive digital and physical prototypes, as the manager of CCA’s Hybrid Lab.
Dr. Sudhu Tewari is an electro-acoustic composer, improvisor, and bricoleur in sound, kinetic, and interactive art. He holds a B.A. in Music from Sonoma State University, an M.F.A. in Electronic Music and Recording Technology from Mills College, and a Ph.D. in Cultural Musicology from UC Santa Cruz. His passion for design, re-design, and recuperation has led to the creation of experimental musical instruments, kinetic sculptures, interactive installations, audio electronics, and wearable sound art.