Over at Make, Gareth Branwyn reported on his personal highlight of Maker Faire Bay Area last weekend — a presentation by artist Danielle Baskin, who made sweaters for drones and then sent the drones on real Tinder dates. I saw the presentation too and was literally laughing for much of her talk.
Drone sweaters started out as a joke. As Danielle says, it’s so easy, if you have a fun, goofy idea, to quickly create a professional-looking website, put it up, and see where it takes you. She did that with Drone Sweaters and this joke started getting serious attention, and even interest from drone owners looking to buy sweaters. So, Danielle opened up shop for real. You can get a fashionable Danielle Baskin sweater for your drone for $89.
Danielle’s next foray into fun drone foolishness was creating Tinder dating profiles for her drone. Again, she didn’t know what to expect, but she started getting matches. Within a few weeks, the drone had gotten 200 Tinder matches. And the matches started flirting(?) with her drone. Some suitors wanted to go on actual dates, so Danielle set up a viewing blind so she could see the drone (without the date seeing her). A baby monitor, hidden beneath the drone, inside the sweater (see, that sweater is handy), allowed Danielle to hear the date and respond. She even sent out at FAQ before the dates informing the drone’s suitors of proper drone dating etiquette. At least one drone dater asked for a second date.