I was at a music festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park when Charli XCX took the stage. The crowd began to jump as a guitar hook kicked in, and I bounced along despite my aging knees. My chunky Puff necklace nearly flew off the chain. During a quieter moment, someone next to me complimented it, with its stainless steel swirls and bulbous orange center. Their eyes widened as I popped the cap off and showed them that it was actually a hidden USB flash drive. I plugged it into my phone to display the animations.
The Puff comes from Harry Isaac and Sebastian Bidegain, who design under the name Noware. When they posted an early prototype of their retro, futuristic necklace on social media in 2025, it drew more than a million views and thousands of waitlist sign-ups. The pair has spent the past year trying to turn that online buzz into a real product. Noware is now ready to ship the first units this October.
The two arrived at the WIRED office wearing their Puff necklaces, matching their trendy gorpcore outfits. They seemed nervous but excited to show off their creation. Neither has released a product widely before, though both have a history of playful design. Isaac previously went viral for building an electric scooter that shoots bubbles. Bidegain has taken a sculptural approach to electronics, with prototypes like a vape camera and a low fidelity sampler built into a rock.
The Puff’s design philosophy is as much about looks as it is about utility. Noware’s marketing materials show a cool girl with a Puff clipped onto her purse, where a Labubu might have sat last year, or styled on her neck with a pile of silver chains. Bidegain says the “squishy, doughy” textures of food partly inspired the design, along with cellular biology and tactile devices such as old phones and radios.
“On one end, I want anyone to be able to wear it, just if they think it’s pretty,” he says. “Though, I also want people who actually find utility in flash drives as part of their workflow: photographers, DJs, IT people.”
My favorite aspect is the small screen in the middle of the necklace. When plugged into a phone or laptop, the center lights up with a customizable design. The Noware duo showed me goopy animations that reacted to the direction I held the phone, as well as an aquarium mode. They even displayed the WIRED logo on it, using custom software that anyone can learn. The Puff has no internal battery, so it can live as a piece of jewelry long past the expiration date of most electronics.
The biggest drawback is the price: $179 for 128 GB of storage. A basic flash drive with similar capacity costs about $30. The duo wants the Puff to become more affordable in time. “We want it to get cheaper over time, but we’re just trying to make it exist first,” Isaac says. They blame the high price partly on the rising cost of memory, fueled by the AI boom. Depending on how the initial release goes, future versions may include lower cost options, like a nonmetal model.
“We’re very interested in making electronics that are more opinionated, playful, and personal,” Isaac says.
This experimental device from two New York City makers was the perfect accessory for a weekend festival, with its retro, futuristic style and bright colors. It sparked lighthearted conversations with vendors, and at least one friend assumed I was hiding drugs inside. (Nope, just a bunch of nudes.)
