2018installation · hardware · freelance

Hidden

An interactive mascot for Amsterdam streetwear brand Secluded, its sculpted body built by Jelmer Gunnink and Sem Barkman, its sensing chest-piece display designed and built by Daan.

Front detail of the astronaut-like Hidden sculpture, chest-piece display glowing green, against a pink-and-purple projected sky.
01

Overview

Hidden is the interactive mascot for Amsterdam-based streetwear brandSecluded, created as a prop for the release of their Savage Island clothing line (September–November 2018). The character translates the collection's aesthetic into a physical object: retro-futuristic 1950s/60s science fiction, the resilience of nature, and an apocalyptic sensibility. Hidden has stood on Savage Island for years with a single mission — transmitting Secluded's message to anyone who crosses his path.

The base sculpture was built byJelmer GunninkandSem Barkman; my contribution was making Hidden interactive.

02

Adding interactivity

I designed and built a custom PCB carrying an embedded system that senses visitor proximity and drives a bespoke chest-piece display. Whenever someone approaches, the display activates and announces the presence of Secluded — a discovered interaction rather than a prescribed one, since the display only reveals itself once a visitor is already close.

The chest-piece only lights up once someone is already within reach, so the moment of discovery happens at close range rather than being announced from across the room.

A visitor's hand reaching toward the chest-piece display as it activates, dim blue lighting.
A visitor's hand reaching toward the chest-piece display as it activates, dim blue lighting.
03

Launch

The work was shown at both the Zeedijk 60 clothing store in Amsterdam and the Savage Island Release Party at Parq Studios.

Hidden on its pedestal against a projected planetary sky, silhouetted visitors seated in front of it at the release party.
Hidden on its pedestal against a projected planetary sky, silhouetted visitors seated in front of it at the release party.

Secluded also shot a campaign portrait alongside the sculpture, putting real models in the line's jackets next to Hidden's full astronaut suit.

Campaign portrait: two models in orange and blue Secluded jackets flanking the Hidden sculpture in its full astronaut suit.
Campaign portrait: two models in orange and blue Secluded jackets flanking the Hidden sculpture in its full astronaut suit.
04

Reflection

Hidden's brief was narrow — make an existing sculpture react to people — but the design decision that mattered was restraint: a single sensed proximity threshold and a single display response, rather than a menu of interactions, kept the chest-piece legible in a crowded release-party setting.