About Us
"Haptic" refers to the sense of touch that includes the entire body, inside and out; it is also the mechanism we employ to situate our bodies in space, feeling the world around us. Haptic designs counter the rapid digitization of our lives by privileging the real, physical world our bodies occupy. Like a cane that safely guides someone down the sidewalk, haptic projects serve as tools for sensation.
Haptic Lab was founded in 2009 by Emily Fischer, a Brooklyn-based architect and designer. Since moving to New York City a few years ago, she's worked at L.E.FT, MADE, JPDA, and a host of other four-letter words and architectural acronyms. Her current efforts have been invested in developing a professional career as an architect while maintaining connections to academic research, artistic practice, and spreading awesome.
Emily received her Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan in 2005 where she was awarded the Marion Sarah Parker Award for outstanding achievement by a female student. Her thesis project titled the Haptic Theater of Cruelty was a recipient of an inaugural GROCS Grant through the University of Michigan's Digital Media Commons. The HToC was featured in the exhibition "4/77" at the Taubman College Gallery; the project was also featured in "Volume 10: On Decoration" of the architecture journal 306090.
Soft-Maps started in 2002 as an academic experiment in tactile wayfinding; the quilts were inspired by Emily’s mother Peggy who had begun losing her eyesight.
