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Buddytalks, MUQU

A quiet voice in your hand. A breath of calm.

Buddytalks_Muqu — © Ingeborg Bloem

BuddyTalks – MUQU is a handheld breathing companion that helps stressed minds find calm. Combined with ChatGPT voice interaction, it listens, comforts, and connects.

Technology with a soul

BuddyTalks – MUQU is an exploration of emotional technology and human connection. It’s a handheld breathing companion that helps people regulate stress and anxiety through touch, light, and breath. The object expands as you inhale, glows with a warm amber light, and gently contracts as you exhale – guiding you toward inner calm.
At the same time, MUQU listens. With an integrated voice interface powered by ChatGPT, it offers an empathetic conversation partner for moments when you need to speak, reflect, or simply feel heard.
Developed at the intersection of design, mindfulness, and AI, BuddyTalks – MUQU invites a new relationship between humans and technology: one based not on efficiency or performance, but on care, presence, and softness. It’s not smart. It’s kind.

About Ingeborg Bloem

Ingeborg Bloem is a designer, writer and conceptual artist exploring empathy, technology and human connection. Her projects range from The Temple of Peace to BuddyTalks – MUQU and Van Nut & Loos, a playful series of “useless objects” questioning functionality and meaning. Both projects are presented during Dutch Design Week at POPEI.

Helping adults and kids to become calm — © Ingeborg Bloem

calmness through breath — © Ingeborg Bloem

Strijp-S area, POPEI, Klokgebouw 300 , Map No. B1
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Fully Wheelchair Accessible
Wifi available
Toilets available