About
What is The Liquid Crystal Necklace?
The Liquid Crystal Necklace is a square panel encapsulating a unique chemical mixture that responds shifts in temperature or to a physical force, such as touch or vibration. As your finger moves across the surface, the chemical mixture, called liquid crystal (liquid crystals are so named because they are not solid like a crystal of sugar or salt) refracting light to reveal brilliant, shifting colors.
The product is made by laminating a quantity of the liquid crystal formula, made from several esters of cholesterol, between protective plastic layers. The material inside is not dyed; its color-changing effect is entirely optical, created by how light bends through the layered structure of the liquid crystal.
At once a scientific demonstration, a decorative item, and a sensory experience, The Liquid Crystal Necklace fascinates everyone who encounters it.
Features
What’s it for?
As a piece of jewelry, The Liquid Crystal Necklace never stops changing, and the colors move as you move or as your temperature changes. Walk from sunlight into shadow, or rest it against your skin, and the surface blooms into new colors.
The Liquid Crystal Necklace was designed to be interactive. When you press your fingers against the surface, it creates vivid, almost instantaneous color patterns that fade and reform with each touch.
This function earned it its name. “The Liquid Crystal Necklace” doesn’t just display color — it performs it in real time. Children and adults alike were (and still are) captivated by the cause-and-effect playfulness. Unlike typical fidget tools, the Touch-Me doesn’t click or spin; it reacts, making each use feel personal and engaging.
Beyond fashion and fun, The Liquid Crystal Necklace can also be used for mindfulness and self-regulation. When placed on a pulse point, the beat of your heart creates visible waves of color. Consider it a visual mantra — a way to center attention on breath, heartbeat, or calming thoughts, to help you focus on the present moment.
History
The Original Liquid Crystal Experience
In the autumn of 1969, in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, a small medical startup experimenting with thermotropic materials developed a plastic square with a half-circle of liquid crystal attached to the top. Originally designed as a temperature-sensitive diagnostic tool, it shimmered and changed color with body heat.
That sample found its way to a retail shop on Walnut Street in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood, where it caught the eye of a salesman from Concept Research, a small, family-run company which, already immersed in the counterculture of the 1970s, was selling light machines, black lights, incense, posters, and candles to novelty shops all over the Northeast. Concept Research saw the sensory potential in that little square of liquid crystal, and reached out to the manufacturer of the functional ingredient, Pressure Chemical Company. They secured a supply of cholesteric liquid crystal and began adapting the technology into something more accessible — and more playful. Soon after, the original “The Liquid Crystal Necklace” was born — a heat-sensitive square that changed colors with just a touch. It became an instant sensation.
“The Liquid Crystal Necklace” — a heat-sensitive square that changes colors with just a touch
It was first introduced in early 1970 at Bonnieres, a high-end boutique on Madison Avenue in New York City. The product sold out almost immediately. Soon after, the Museum of Modern Art, recognizing The Liquid Crystal Necklace’s unique fusion of science, art, and interaction, featured a custom, circular version in its gift shop.
The popularity of The Liquid Crystal Necklace helped spark a broader cultural phenomenon. As sales soared — over 2 million units were sold in just the first 18 months — new applications of liquid crystal were developed, and Concept Research was part of it, working with Pressure Chemical to be one of the first manufacturers of a new product: the mood ring. Inventor Josh Reynolds had the idea for a ring that changed color with emotional states, and Larry Rosen had the chemical know-how. Concept Research helped manufacture the earliest versions, assembling the rings by hand.
Both The Liquid Crystal Necklace and the mood ring became defining objects of the 1970s, blending curiosity, creativity, and a countercultural vibe. And while many companies copied the idea, the original The Liquid Crystal Necklace was never matched.
More than fifty years later, The Liquid Crystal Necklace is still handcrafted in the very same Pittsburgh space, by the same family and community that brought it into being. It remains a piece of the American imagination — born from science, sustained by wonder, and full of fun.
