Tampa native mixes science with fashion with sci-chic

BOSTON, Mass. (FOX 13) - A Tampa-native, armed with a 3-D printer is creating and selling science as fashion from her online store.

The collection is called Sci Chic and it merges modern technology with modern style.

Erin Winick is the mastermind behind the line. She graduated from Freedom High School.

"That's actually one of the places I really engaged with engineering and science for the first time," she said.

From windmill dresses to atom necklaces to earrings with robot hands, Winick wanted her pieces to make more than just a statement.

"By wearing science, it's a really cool way to spark every day conversations about science and get people to engage with it in a new way," she explained.

Videos posted on the company's site show customers how the 3-D printer creates the products they're buying.

"We're letting people engage with the product and see it from start to finish. We're able to talk about manufacturing and get girls to engage with everything from making a piece of jewelry to then transfer it over to more engineering skills," explained Winick.

Besides Sci Chic, Winick is also the associate editor for the MIT Technology Review in Boston, where her fashions get noticed.

"I wear my stuff all the time at work so I get lots of comments on it," said Winick. 

Sci Chic's customer base is going beyond the science community. 

"The plastic jewelry, we're really trying to make colorful and fun for young girls. We've had young boys buy our stuff too. We've had astrophysicists wear our stuff so it's been really cool to see how it's evolved because there's been people who are wearing our stuff now that we never expected to," said Winick.