moritz waldemeyer: LED carnival costumes for rio olympic handover

LED-encrusted costumed by moritz waldemeyer

as part of the olympic closing ceremony, german designer moritz waldemeyer conceived a vibrant collection of LED-embedded carnival costumes for the olympic hand over to rio de janeiro – proudly honoring all things brazilian.

working with brazilian fashion designer jum nakao, waldemeyer produced an ecletic selection of 140 LED-encrusted carnival ensembles that pulse to the rhythm of the music. the pieces were specifically created to complement four different performances: an eighty-piece drum parade, brazilian samba girls, amazonian folk dancers, and maracatu – a customary ceremonial dance staged in celebration of electing the kings of congo.

the display was layered with a fusion of culture and technology – the samba maidens harnessing glowing spinning ferris wheels; each drummer armed with a replica of their respective instruments suspended above them, rippling with concentric circles of light; the amazonians dripping with illuminated jewelry; and the maracatu donned in a mesh of LEDs resembling light bulbs, referencing favela festivities, and accompanied by floor-length headdresses adorned with illuminated ribbon.

waldmeyer says of the energetic display:

‘we wanted to root our creations in brazilian culture and history but with a twist. the jewellery is actually made up of electronics equipment – circuit boards and cables – and even drinking straws, a reference to grassroots creativity.

finding spheres of the right size and diffusion to make the LEDs look like light bulbs was actually one of our biggest challenges. we eventually found the solution in containers used by the water treatment industry!’ 

waldemeyer also explored new territories regarding LED programming. usually the costumes would be individually controlled by battery, however, for the first time, waldemeer synchronized the LEDs’ animation to all beat to the drums. he did this by employing  the available olympic radio network, and created a system where the costumes respond the tempo of the music so that they are all perfectly in time.