The domestic soundscape / Critical Journal

ma industrial design central saint martins college of art and design june 2010

the DOMESTIC SOUNDSCAPE - a project about sound and rhythm in the house by chiara onida

CRITICAL JOURNAL

Table of Contents Introduction Part 1: Initial research ......................................................................................................5 Playing the building IRCAM Define the domestic soundscape. Exploration on sounds in the house: artefacts Typology Sound and body. Human sounds: from/to/with the body Sound and body. Extention of the ears Part 2: to communicate a sound ........................................................................................27 Work in progress. A range of approaches 1. Semantics. Bottles for announcements 2. Recorded sound. Verba Manent 4. Semantics. Thimbles Sound Archetypes 3. Sampling and communicating. Dictionary of sounds Direction. After the work in progress Part 3: to represent a sound. Objects as metaphores ..........................................................35 Representation of sounds. “This object is a sound�

Seminar with Stephen Hayward. Project in a postcard Workshop in Turin. Emotions and sounds Objects as metaphores. Familiar objects Methodology. Parameters to follow to generate the outcomes Part 4: to use sounds and rhythms to create an experience.the final outcomes.....................59 Rhythm #312. Concept generation.

Design development Making Outcome and testing.

Future development Water carafes and glasses Piano-forte-mezzoforte. Concept generation.

Design development Testing Making Refining the design Outcome If John only knew. Reference Design development Making Outcome Incalmi: Concept generation Design development Making Final outcome Toolkit to design impact sounds: Concept generation Design development Final outcome.

Testing.

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Introduction

Project

How to read the Journal

Domestic soundscape

The title of this project is descriptive of a journey in the theme of sound, analysed with the methodology and the instruments that belong to the design practice. In addition it anticipates the elements that have been explored and that this journal is going to report.

In particular, due to the experimental approach with which the whole project has been conducted, I find the format of the journal ideal to combine the explanation of both the structured stages of the process and the more instinctive intuitions.

The structure of this journal has been thought to allow the reader orientate in the multifaceted directions taken in the exploration of the subject.

It is divided in four sections that summarize the main approaches undertaken from the initial research to the generation of the final outcomes.

The word soundscape refers to the presence of an articulate and complex landscape where sonic events take place, to an environment populated by a multitude of sounds.

The theme of the research is sound, intended in its wider meanings: sonic events (sound happening, being created or designed), sonic effects (the sensations human receive from the experience of a sound) and parameters that give sound its physical characteristic (pitch, rhythm, intensity, quality).

The scenario in which the research takes place is the one of the house, the domestic context in which we live, act and in which we spend a considerable amount of time.

Aim of the project The overall aim of this project is to celebrate the beauty coming from a conscious experience of the variety of sounds we live in, in particular focusing on the positive and pleasant aspects of the experience of hearing.

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Part 1

INITIAL RESEARCH

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Define a domestic soundscape in opposition to public soundscapes

Playing the building

an installation by David Byrne, 8-31 August 2009, Roundhouse, London August | A sound installation in which the physical infrastructure of the building is turned into a giant instrument, that might be musical, but is not meant to be. Various devices are attached to parts of the building structure (metal beams, the plumbing, the electrical conduits, the heating pipes, the water pipes) and are used to make these parts produce sound.

No amplification is used, no speakers, no sounds created with a computer. Those devices don’t produce sound their own but instead they cause the building elements themselves to

vibrate, oscillate and resonate. The installation makes visitors focus on the sound-producing qualities that are inherent in all materials.

The material’s nature, its form, its position will dtermine they kind of sound it produces. In a Western culture that focuses mainly on the visual, expecially concearning the experience of art and architecture, I appreciate the intention Byrne had to make the public experience the structure, the dimension, the proportions of the building through the auditory.

materials and sound /customisation of the experience: visitor as stakeholder / the exhbition is never the same

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Define a domestic soundscape in opposition to public soundscapes

IRCAM

Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique November | Visit to the European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde electro-acoustical art music. It is next to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In the institute

part of the research they conduct is oriented to discover how humans perceive sounds, what the semantic and aesthetic implications of a sounds are. Expecially for commercial purposes.

physic and psychic effects of sound on human / semantic and aestethic features of sounds.

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Define the domestic soundscape.

Exploration on sounds in the house: artefacts August-September | At the beginnig of the research I started to observe and sample the sound events I could spot in the house.

The aim was to find some categories to give the research a structure and direction. In particular I focused on the distintion between sounds

of artefacts and human sounds. For those two main categories the criteria for analysis were informations and emotions given by human interpretation of the physical features of a sound.

physic and psychic effects of sound on human / semantic and aestethic features of sounds.

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Features and characteristic of an artefact that determine a sound: Shape ( round, square, flat, long, short, linear, bent, spherical, pipe ...)

Material ( glass, ceramic, plastic, metal, fabric, leather, ...)

Size (small, medium, big, thin, thick...)

Texture ( smooth, rough, bumby, corrugated,...)

Space: position of the object in a space, space itself

conclusion > Everything that vibrates makes a sound!

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Typology

Keys October | When we did the workshop to define a typology of object to develop, I did not realise the role and the importance of that choice. The typology I chose were keys. Rather that focusing on a typology to work on and develop throughout

the year, I chose an object descriptive of a moment of my reasearch. The keys were a good illustration of the aim and the scenario of the project, but didn’t offer in themselves big possibilities for development.

/keys work as an illustration of the project, but are not a good typology to develop/

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Sound of the key > generally reassuring In one typology the sound is amplified and in the other is denied.

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Sound and body

Human sounds: from/to/with the body December | Observations and research around the relation between the sound and the body in terms of: - sound produced by/with the body (controlled or not controlled) - deliver sounds from the body - direct sounds to the ear - amplify sounds reacing the ear - prevent sounds from reaching the ear (mask sounds) Body Heartbeat Breathing Footstep Hands Whistle Eating Drinking Evacuating Nervous System Dream Sounds etc.

Voice Speaking Calling Whispering Crying Screaming Singing Humming Laughing Coughing Grunting Groaning ect

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Sound and body

Extention of the ears December | Research on artefacts to hep the auditory.

Those artefacts developed in two ways: - bring outside the inner sound of the body - bring to the ear the sounds coming from the environment.

Amplify. From the body / To the body

René Laennec (1781-1826) invented the stethoscope in 1816 as a diagnostic tool to listen to the heart and breathing in the human body. In the two centuries since then it has appeared in numerous forms, but its function remains essentially the same and as such it has become one of the great symbols of modern medicine. This is one of Laennec’s original stethoscopes. Percussion, or listening to the chest, was developed by Leopold Auenbrugger (17221809) in 1761 but was little used until his work was translated into Latin. Laennec saw the development of his stethoscope as completing Auenbrugger’s work. http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/applications/ugc/Library.aspx?type=txt&id=1047

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This Ardent hearing aid was made by R H Dent in Oxford Street, London. A product of the then new microphone and battery technology, this device amplified sounds in a much more convenient way than the earlier Victorian ear trumpet. http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/applications/ugc/Library.aspx?type=txt&id=1044

Made from imitation tortoiseshell, this simple device would have fitted over the ear and been hidden under the hair. With the end inserted into the ear it acted like a mini ear trumpet, amplifying sounds to help people who were partially deaf to hear more clearly. (The effect would be similar to cupping your hand over your ear.) The device was made by Hawksley, a medical instrument maker based in London. http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/applications/ugc/Library.aspx?type=txt&id=1042

Perhaps the most ingenious design of an acoustic throne was created by F. C. Rein for King John VI of Portugal (also called King Goa VI ). King John VI used the throne from about 1819 until his death in 1826, while ruling from Brazil. The King’s chair was equipped with a large receiving apparatus concealed beneath the seat. Its hollow arms were elaborately carved to represent the open mouths of grotesque lions and were arranged to act as receivers through which sound was conveyed via a single tube hidden in the back of the chair. Visitors were required to kneel before the chair and speak directly into the animal heads. A replica of the original chair is housed at the Amplivox/Ultratone corporate office in London.

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Part 2

TO COMMUNICATE A SOUND

Work in progress

A range of approaches Janaury | The feedbacks I got from the people attending the WIP were generally uniform. People agreed on the fact that my research was interesting and stimulating, and the approach fresh.

The outcome till that point were still experimental and I was not convinced about developing of any of them.

At that stage I tried to create physical models of all the ideas I had. Even if it was time consuming, having real things to evaluate make it easier to understand if the direction was iteresting or not.

I enjoyed having a range of objects all offering a very different approach to the theme of sound.

WIP: interesting research and approach; direction of the outcome and methodology still not defined.

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Semantics

Bottles for announcements

Experiments around the common custom of hitting a bottle during a meal to announce a speech.

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Recorded sound

Verba Manent

A jar to record voice messages and other sounds in the house to then share them with the housemates.

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Visualise sound

Dictionary of sounds

A catalogue that provides descriptions of sonic events with letters of the alphabet. The aim is to provide an objective description of sounds avoiding the use of onomatopoeias and stereotypical words.

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Semantics

Thimbles

Reflections on the possible way to amplify the message coming from a semantic interpretation of a human action. Ceramic thimbles to amplify the sound of fingers tapping (= boredom)

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Semantics

Keys

Reflections on the possible way to amplify, both vith visual and audio, the message carried by the sound an object makes.

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1. Semantics

Bottles for announcements Experiments around the tradition of hitting a bottle during a meal to announce a speech.

Modify an existing typology to enhance a performative behaviour where sound has an estabished meaning.

familiar typology / performative interaction

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2. Recorded sound

Verba Manent This box has a lid that turns, triggering alternatively a recording and a playing button. To use it you have to open the lid and speak in the box to leave a message. The message is then recorded and kept.

When the lid of the box is opened again the message is played. The box does not tell whether there is a message or not and is not possible to distinguish

what side records and what plays. The only way to know it is to try!

The object is meant to be kept in a common area of a house to enhance a ritual of exchange and expectations that wants to be more expressive than the one provided by answering machine and less flat than a note on paper!

I find digital sounds less interesting than natural ones / the object easily falls into the category of gadget

Record the message

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Play the message

4. Semantics

Thimbles Reflections on the possible way to amplify the message coming from a semantic interpretation of a human action. Ceramic thimbles are worn to amplify the sound of fingers tapping, thus making loud the feeling of boredom.

Again. Illustrates well, but can it be developed as an object?

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Sound Archetypes Each one of us has an idea of what archetype for objects are. If I ask someone to draw a chair he will probably draw a figure with a seat, 3 or 4 legs, a back, and maybe armrests. He will not probably draw a specific chair, but a figure representing the idea of chairness.

What would happen If I asked people to tell, describe or write the archetype of sound that describes some actions or objects?

Each language and culture have some archetypal sounds. Those sounds mirror the soundscape a community live in. Some of them are so common or widely recognised that become verbs, action words.

Those words are called onomatopoeia. The english language for instance have onomatopoeic verbs to reproduce animals that belong to the English environment: the cat meows, the cow moos, the lion roars. There isn’t instead a verb describing the tapir, for instance.

Some sounds are instead quite new in the environment and there is lack of a word describing them.

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This reflection led me to prepare a questionnaire consisting in drawing of archetypes of objects or animals: people were asked to write with letters the sound that in their opinion corresponds to the image shown.

People were specificly asked to avoid onomatopoeia and stereotypical words.

The aim of this experiment is to try avoiding the barriers that exist between different languages and cultures to communicate a sound. [ Questionnaire #2 Write letters or signs of your alphabet that you think describe at best the sound of the object drawn (eg. if the drawing was a bell you might write DRrrINnn). Please avoid onomatopoeic words that already exist (like crash, drip, knock, vroom, etc) or existing words that have a meaning.

If you want to descibe sounds using your own language or alphabet (in case your first language is not english) please do. If you want you can use phonetic spelling as well.]

3. Sampling and communicating

Dictionary of sounds It is a catalogue, a dictionary that provides an international possibility to verbally describe and communicate sounds avoiding the cultural and linguistic limits implied in the onomatopoeias.

It answers the question: “How

and is not words?�

to describe a sound that is not music

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Direction

After the work in progress The Work in Progress has been a chance to stop and look at the objects I produced till that point.

Despite my concern about the difficulty to explain the research behind the Dictionary of Sound, it came to be considered by the presents the most fresh and successful idea.

People seemed to like Verba Manent as well because entertaining, engaging, surprising and useful.

I put in comparison the common traits of these two

outcomes to understand what features made them being appreciated and if I could apply those features to other objects.

The work in progress was as well an opportunity to do more mapping of my research to understand where to locate my intervention in the subject, what the most interesting areas were, what the ones that didn’t have any potentials for development.

- starts from real existing domestic sounds - describes sound with common language - communicates a sound - gives sounds name and shape - sometimes sounds of different artefacts have the same letters or look like similar words

- it records and preserves sound events - suggests a performative interaction - aims to establish a ritual around a sharable experience - the mechanism is hidden, doesn’t communicate the idea of sound fromt he outside - plays the message back

Common traits. Both objects:

- explore a way to keep, save, record a sound - use real existing sound as a starting point - are an attempt to communicate an existing sound with a code that is common and shared - the sounds they show are evokative, are reproductions of real sounds.

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Part 3

TO REPRESENT A SOUND Objects as metaphores

Representation of sounds

“This object is a sound” After compiling the Dictionary of sounds I decided to try and push further the idea of communicating a sound through its representation.

I started illustrating the sounds from the dictionary trying to translate into visual and formal the sonic sensations given by the letters describing each sound.

The idea was to create a collection of physical objects to complete an outcome that was still 2D; both shapes and materials could have been used to illustrate the sensation given by the sound in the catalogue. Different outlines, overall shapes, materials and superficial texture should provide the idea of different sonic sensations.

A collection of physical objects to illustrate the sounds classified in the dictionary.

After a first classification and generation of shapes I realised that the objects were not as effective as I imagined in communicating the idea of sound.

The limit was that the process was too subjective.

By simply looking at the objects without explanations on the project it would have been impossible to understand that the items in the collection were referring to the concept of sounds: they were still just a subjective representations of them.

My initial attempt to say “This object is a sound” turned in the consciousness that the objects were only some of the possible representations of that sound.

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“This object is one of the possible representations of a sound”.

It’s a sensation of a sound.

Seminar with Stephen Hayward

Project in a postcard Janaury | At the end of the month we did an interesting seminar with Stephen Hayward.

We were asked to produce an A6 postcard to summarize the concept behind our project and to communicate with this piece the context and the narrative around it.

Initially I wanted to deny the presence and the material aspects of the postcard itself, to have in the end only sound. The first piece I produced was a white postcard with the phonetic letters of the phrase “Silence: listen to the show“ as an exhortation to experience the environment through the auditory.The

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feedback I got pointed out that the postcard wasn’t developed and resolved enought.

I develop the exercise further by producing other postcards in which the context of the domestic environment is more explicit and the sounds are given already.

I still beleive the first postcard reflects in an effective way the freedom given by the experimental approach I conducted my project with.

The second one offers and interesting reflection about visual possibilities of mapping.

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Workshop in Turin

Emotions and sounds In February 2010 I was asked to take part in the organisation of the structure and in the execution of the academic workshop Emotions and sounds, organised by the Politecnico in Turin. My role was the one of teaching assistant to the architect and musician Paolo DellaPiana.

We drew together the structure of the workshop and he agreed in giving me the freedom to carry out my research on domestic sounds integrating it in the activities of the workshop.

What

Twenty-five students from the BA Industrial and Graphic Design courses were briefed to work on the theme emotions linked to everyday sounds and to connect them to the physical space of the house.

They were asked to sample 10 different sounds; to give a cognitive map of them and to connect them to the plan of the house, using mixed media.

The outcome were various and interesting: visual representations, photos, sound compositions of emotions linked to domestic sounds. At the end of the 5 days we created an inflatable structure (our domestic space) were we played the domestic soundtrack made with the audio samples provided by the students.

Structure Day 1

Introduction and brief. Explanation of the structure of the workshop, the intended outcomes, the methodology, the media used.

Day 2

- Theory on sound and spaces: defining a domestic space comparing it to a public one.

Examples of architectures designed for a sound and of sounds designed for specific architectures.

- Collect the material produced by students about the localisation of the sounds in the house; discussion.

Day 3

- Theory on sounds and industrial design: examples of projects of design that approach the theme of sound. Discussion about the outcomes, from the most functional to the experimental ones.

- Collect the audio samples recorded by the student.

- Patterns of behaviours and musical patterns: dimostration of composition with loops.

- Playing by moving in the space: demostration of compositions with the Theremin.

Day 4

Theory on sounds and graphic design: examples of projects of 2D design in representing the theme of sound. Discussion about the outcomes.

- Collect and discuss the visual work produced by the students.

Day 5

- Create a space according to the reflections developed during the workshop and locate the domestic sounds collected by the students in it.

Editing of the domestic soundtrack on a Ableton grid to be able to play it and control them.

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Workshop

EMOTIONS AND SOUNDS 15th-19th February 2010 Politecnico, Turin

Step 1

OBSERVATION AND SAMPLING

LOCATE SOUND IN THE SPACE OF THE HOUSE

Step 2

Step 3

REPRESENTATION OF THE SOUNDS...

...PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

Step 4

COMPOSITION OF THE DOMESTIC SOUNDTRACK

Step 5

CREATE THE DOMESTIC PAVILION AND PLACE THE SOUNDS IN IT

THE END

Workshop in Turin

Emotions and sounds Analysis of datas and results

Going through the data collected we can see that sounds connected to humans (steps, kisses, voices, etc) or animals were the ones that contribute to the feeling of belonging since they are unique and unmistakable. Sometimes sounds of the same artefacts recurred and students labelled them mostly as sounds marking the passing of time and informing about the progress of an actions. From the alarm clock to the doorbell, the consolidated semantic meaning of the sound directs us in quite standard reactions: wake up/get up, go and open the door, etc. What makes the big difference are the emotions people put in these actions and the feelings they have in doing them.

From the feedbacks we learnt that if the semantic meaning of sounds (as cultural product) is shared by the majority, each person feels very specific emotions deriving from memories or associations attached to sounds happening in a house.

One of the most interesting observation about the samples collected is that students never mentioned or reported sounds different from the routine or sudden, unexpected sonic events that can happen around. The sounds sampled mostly belonged to the student’s repeatable familiar patterns of behaviour.

Conclusions

The workshop has been an incredibly important source of feedbacks and reflections around the theme sound in the house.

It made me realise that my approach until that point was not effective: the attempt to use industrial design to visualise sound is not interesting enought and it’s too subjective. 2D techniques offer lot of possibilities to provide a visual representation of sound (from illustrations to softwares), but when it switches to 3D the outcomes are mostly pretentious and dull.

The workshop was a breaking point from which I started formulating a coherent methodology.

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Objects as metaphores

Familiar objects February | I started focusing on everyday objects again, on familiar typologies which use and function are known. The idea was to incorporate some sounds or sonic details into an everyday object to add a new meaning to a consolidated and habitual action.

Cheesegraters in acrilic; the position of the blades provides to create a rhythmical sound that is different from the one we are used to.

Designing a new disposition in the alternance of the blades with the flat surface makes it possible to obtain different sonic outcomes when grating.

The first object developed was a cheese grater. The action of grating produces a sound that is usually rhythmical because of the rhythmical disposition of the blades on the grating surface. I started wondering if I could give the action of grating a new rhythm by changing the sequence of the blades.

- Subvert and surprise to create awareness - Use familiar objects - Intevention were there is a performative interaction

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Methodology

Parameters to follow to generate the outcomes February - March | I just stopped and looked back at all the previous experiments and research. I did more mapping (again!) and finally felt ready to formulate the methodology to drive the process to generate the design work.

Aware of the fact that I was late, I felt reliefed by the fact that the methodology was finally coherent.

And that its strenght laid in the consciuosness achieved by the previous deep exploration and by the mistakes.

I finally drew the set of parameters that, applied to a design process, would have lead to the production of a consistent range of objects.

Work with real sounds and rhythms, avoiding recorded/ digital ones.

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This choice was motivated by the understanding of the differences between digital and real sound and supported by the evaluation of the possibilities to generate a real sound and make it resonate through the use of specific shapes and materials. From the interviews it emerged that, in the domestic context, users consider digital sound colder that real ones and in a sense they associate to them to negative impression. Real sounds are seen as more authentic and expressive since they vary, sometimes according to way users interact with object in use.

Use visual code to communicate the presence of sound or rhythm or

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create an expectation about a sonic event even when the object is not in use. This is to engage the user and make him/her want to try and use the object to discover what the sonic experience embedded to the object is.

Create the experience of a sound or a rhythm from the interaction user-object •

Design objects that necessitate a performative interaction. The sonic experience will be generated from the interaction user-object. Ultimately it can become a consistent or necessary part of a ritual, or mark a specific moment. The user will participate to the creation of the sound and to the possible variations of it.

Work with sounds or rhythms with a strong evocative power to

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generate pleasure or surprise. The will is to avoid the sonic outcome to become quickly familiar and established, to disclose itself entirely when the object being used the first time; the aim is to avoid the sound becoming an established part of an automatic action by creating in the sonic outcome a range varying from time to time.

Use recognizable typologies of domestic objects keeping their • Use sound to offer the possibility to create a new experience around established function a familiar object •

Part 4

TO USE SOUNDS AND RHYTHMS TO CREATE AN EXPERIENCE. THE FINAL OUTCOMES.

Concept generation

Rhythm #312 February-March | This is the first object of the ones that form the definitive final outcomes.

The inspiration for this project came from the association between the parameters that contribute to define a sound and the bridges in Venice.

In particular in Venice there is big a bridge, designed

by Calatrava, connecting the train station with the bus terminal. The bridge is always crowded with turists and commuters. The proportion between the rise and the tread of the steps is so unusual that climbing the bridge requires attention and effort to find the right pace. It can’t be done as an automatic action. And it’s quite common to see people literally falling to the ground while crossing the bridge just

because they haven’t found the right pace!

This made me think how important rhythm is for us to perform more easily a set of everyday actions.

Rhythm is, together with quality, intensity and pitch, one of the parameters that help defining a sound.

It can be experienced with the auditory or with touch. The example of the bridges in Venice made me realise that performing an action according to a rhthm is a way to experience it with touch. And moreover a rhythmic action switches easily into an automatic one, that we perform without paying attention anymore.

it’s quite common to see people literally falling to the ground while crossing the bridge!

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Design development

Rhythm #312

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Design development

Rhythm #312

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Making

Rhythm #312

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Outcome and Testing

Rhythm #312 Ladder in steel where the disposition of the rungs is not regular along the structure.

It become difficult to climb the ladder without paying attention to every single movement.

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Future development

Rhythm #312 The possible development for this object include to me the possibility of having a ladder more functional and easier to use.

1) “A frame” ladder, offering two different rhythms on the two sides.

Safer than the one I produced, still shows the possibility to choose between two different rhythms in climbing.

2) “A frame” ladder with a “bridge” that allows the user to switch from a rhythm of climbing to another.

The bridge can be a shelter as well, a place where to rest or stop. I like the idea of having a place where to rest on an object that is transitional, that allows you to go from a point to another, but on which you are not supposed to stay for a long time.

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rhythm go, stop, rest, switch, shift

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Concept generation

Water carafes and glasses Inspiration: rainstick It is an object originally used in central South America in rituals to propitiate rain in dry desertic areas. The only function of the object is to produce a sound, and in particular it simulates the sound of the rain.

This object can simulate the sound different kind of rain do: heavy rain, drizzle, downpour, etc. The sound we hear is not the sound of the rain, but is the best (and universally recognised) mimesis of all the sounds falling rain can do. We can say that it produces the archetype of the sound of the rain, since everyone who has experienced the sound of the rain in his life can recognise the rainess in the sound given by the object.

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Concept generation

Water carafes and glasses Inspiration: Inlets, John Cage, 1977 A sound piece for conch shells.

The performers play large water-filled conch shells: by tipping the shell several times, he achieves a bubble forming inside, producing a sound. Since it is impossible to predict when this happens, the performers have to continue tipping the shells, and the result of the performance is dictated by pure chance.

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Design development

Water carafe and glasses Create a carafe and glass that allow to play with the evocative sound of water

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Design development

Water carafe and glasses

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Experiment and testing of the models

Water carafe and glasses I produced some models out of sheets of PP folded and cut to test how effective the idea could have been.

Despite the experiments with plastic mock-up were quite satisfying, the test with glass proved that the formal development wasn’t effective enought.

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Experiment and testing of the models

Water carafe and glasses The test with glass showed the design was not that effective.

1. The sounds produced by the water flowing from different spouts were not that different.

2. The shape of the spouts was not effective to prevent water from trickling

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Refine the design

Water carafe and glasses On the same concept of water producing different sounds when dripping I refined the design of the carafe to correct the problems faced in the phase of testing.

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Making

Water carafe and glasses The collaboration with the maker was profitable and foundamental to understand the possibility to refine the design. We met several time to discuss the drawing and the design before actually start making the objects.

All the pieces have been handblown rather than moulded: being present during the making was foundamental to ensure the precision of each single detail about the final shapes.

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Final outcome

piano-forte-mezzoforte A carafe with three different spouts to create different sounds when pouring the water in the glass.

References

Glass at the V&A Kuttrolf, carafe from the Middle Age. The unique design of the neck allows to regulate the water flow.

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Concept generation

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Design development

Glasses Sketching to help the design generation of the glasses that will create the set together with carafes.

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Design development

Water carafe and glasses I wanted the glasses to have a formal assonance with the carafe.The stems are hollow and recall the “bubbly� aesthetic of the body of the carafe.

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Making

Water carafe and glasses In the development of the design of the carafe and in the making the tricky part was to find the right dimensions of the “bubbles� and of the necks connecting the bubbly chambers to the main body.

A slightly change it the dimensions proved to determine quite a significant change in the final sound produced by the water moving in the carafe.

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Final outcome

If John only knew If John (Cage) was still alive...and if John only knew.. about the existence of this carafe, he would definitely use it for one of his compositions!

There are lot of “if�, but no doubts that the sounds generated by this carafe and glasses are surprising.

Concept generation Murano, March 2010

Incalmi Incalmo is the name of the Venetian technique of joining two coloured glasses together.

In Murano I had the chance to collaborate with the glass makers of the workshop Ballarin. The makers thought me about the use of different glasses, about the shapes of the tradition of glasslowing in Murano, about the possibility the limits of the process.

Design development London, April 2010 I made treasure of the knowledge of the glass bloweres in Murano. And tried to apply it in the design development of the last piece I wanted to make.

The experience in Murano has been foundamental to know how to communicate with the glass maker in London.

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Final outcome

Incalmi The picture shows the moment of the making when the two coloure glasses are joint together.

The making happened in London with Jochen Holz. He has been a precious advisor: he gave me interesting references and insights to develop the design further.

Concept generation

Toolkit to design impact sounds Foley artists and sound designers are the people who create many of the natural, everyday sound effects in films, cartoons, theatre.

The recurrent sonic effects they need to design are impact sounds to describe scenes with characters punching, slapping and kicking, of bodies falling or hitting things, etc. The material they use to simulate the impact is leather. Alternatively they smash fruits

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like melons or watermelons, or they bang celery.

The value for their work is to rely on a rich variety of sounds to describe the same effect. On the market there are some tools for sound artists, but since they need to make their sounds unique and distinguishable they prefer to create and design their sounds from time to time.

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Design development

Toolkit to design impact sounds The attempt of this concept is to design a set of tools to facilitate sound designers designing ipact sound effects without denying them the richness in variety their work requires.

I wanted to design something handy and portable since working with audio generally means that there are a lot instruments and equipment involved.

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To keep the dimensions small I thought about having a case with a set of tools in it, like the roll-up case holding the brushes of a painter.

99

Design development

Toolkit to design impact sounds From the interview with the sound designer Jonathan McLeod I learnt that leather was the best material to work with to create impact sound effects.

The idea was already stimulating: I never worked with leather before and I wanted to know more about it as a material.

In choosing the leather I tried to get a big variety of pieces since leather of different thikness, texture, superficial treatment produce different sounds.

First rough mock-ups done to test dimensions, usability, characteristic of the leather.

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1. Portable:

To keep the dimensions small I thought about having a case with a set of tools in it, like the roll-up case holding the brushes of a painter.

3. Variety of sounds

Different shapes (loops, bats, etc..) and different leather used for each shape to provide variety of sonic outcomes

2. Intuitive:

I needed to understand how communicate how they can be used: alone, agaist a wall, a table, with each other?

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Final outcome

Toolkit to design impact sounds

102

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Testing

Toolkit to design impact sounds Sound designer Jonathan McLeod testing the tools.

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Conclusion

Evaluation The