Lai Peng

About

Lai is an immersive textile designer whose work explores the connection between the physical and digital worlds. Blending interactive textiles, sound design, and real-time 3D modeling, she creates immersive environments inspired by magical systems, game aesthetics, and ancient symbolism.

Her practice centers around storytelling through tactile textiles and digital software, using both hand-crafted and software-generated textiles to translate intangible emotions into sensory experiences. By designing physical textiles with digital low-poly characteristics and bringing tactile presence into digital textiles, Lai’s work blurs the boundary between physical and digital worlds.

Lai’s project, The Aurora Invocation, draws inspiration from auroras, mystic rituals, and video game magical effects. In collaboration with a music producer, she developed modular soundscapes based on magical incantations. These tracks could be activated by the audience when they interact with Arduino sensors, controlling both the behavior of digital textile animations in TouchDesigner and the movements of physical textile installations. Visitors are invited to “cast spells” through touch, proximity, and the 3D printed wand, triggering visual effects and sonic responses in real time. This magical logic becomes the foundation for an interactive narrative system that evolves with each user’s engagement.

Through her practice, Lai investigates how textiles can become emotional interfaces between worlds. Her installations ask viewers to step into an immersive, magical experience.