Hesper: a coat lit by body heat and cold air, co-designed with Mayo women

Reflective safety gear assumes there is light to reflect. In a Yukon winter there often is not, so industrial design student Sofia Parra asked a different question: what if the wearer could create the light? Hesper is a winter coat whose LEDs are powered by thermoelectric modules that convert the temperature difference between the human body and cold air into electricity.

The build deliberately stays light: flexible Peltier modules and RGB LEDs are connected by stainless steel conductive thread sewn into a removable inner jacket, with a rotating dial in the collar controlling brightness. No batteries, no extra weight, no charging — just the wearer's own warmth.

The clever part is who designed it. Parra worked with Na-Cho Nyak Dun women in Mayo, Yukon, first through full-scale hologram projections beamed from Ottawa, then in co-design sessions on the ground. They steered the garment's layers, colours and trim — traditional cuffs, a high neck shield, a back vent for snowmobile rides — so the tech wraps around knowledge of northern life rather than replacing it.

The community partnership also carried an economic idea: the jacket could be manufactured by the First Nations garment program in Mayo and sold to Northern communities worldwide. Parra said she filed a patent on how the known elements are combined, and Yukonstruct's community outreach manager cautioned that the design must keep crediting the Mayo women to avoid cultural appropriation.