Need to Know

Denmark – Danish design studio Inxects has unveiled the Gaia Communication System (GCS), a ground-breaking wearable designed to bridge the gap between humanity and the natural world. The system includes a sensor-equipped vest and wrist sleeves that translate environmental data into haptic feedback, enabling users to physically sense stress signals from plants, animals and eco-systems.

‘The vibrations resembled stress signals, triggering a physical response like an adrenaline rush,’ Inxects founder Pavels Hedström told Dezeen. Inspired by Nature’s sensory systems – such as ants detecting CO2 – GCS offers users an intuitive way to understand pollution, climate change and habitat destruction.

Specifically tailored for architects, Gaia enables professionals to assess site health through tactile sensations rather than data alone. Its sensors measure key environmental indicators like air and water quality, biodiversity and plant stress. Hedström connects Gaia’s purpose to indigenous ‘deep listening’ practices, aiming to nurture empathy for non-human life.

Making its debut at Copenhagen’s Strange Adaptations exhibition, GCS merges biomimicry with technology, providing architects, urban planners and policy-makers with a novel tool to reconnect with Nature. In our Nature Stakeholders microtrend report, we observed how companies, under increasing scrutiny for climate inaction, are adopting innovative approaches – such as recognising Nature as a legal stakeholder – to drive meaningful environmental change.