Yesterday I was writing here about how temporariness is a great softener of visual blows. If you don’t like it, wait until it goes away.
Well, here is news of progress in the technology of making how something looks something that can keep on changing:
Flexible electronic paper could be available in colour as early as next year, allowing designers to create clothing, accessories and other products that double as display screens.
Commonly used on devices such as Kindle e-readers, e-paper has until now only been available in monochrome, restricting its appeal.
But advances in flexible e-paper technology mean that products such as shoes, watches and garments could soon feature full-colour text, patters and images that can constantly change.
It won’t just be how people dress.
However, this will be a different kind of temporariness, because the changing, at least potentially, will never stop. There will be no normal that gets interrupted, which you can wait for things to get back to, the way you can with scaffolding.
But, “could be available …” means that all this will be taking a while.