Louise van der Veld's Chick-a-dee Smoke Detector
Tradeshows are often induce sensory overload, and design shows are no exception. Every booth and its contents scream for attention—"Over here! Look at me! Touch me! Hear me!" All of it can quickly wear on the senses, and my patience.
Oddly, Dwell on Design—held this past weekend in LA at the Convention Center—felt more calm than most trade shows. Having recently moved from NYC to LA, I am hyper-aware of these differences, but I was surprised at the marked contrast between the Dwell show and ICFF nonetheless. Granted, the two events are incomparable in many ways: ICFF is a huge annual event, overtaking the NYC design scene for days, while Dwell on Design is decidedly more low-key in its intentions and purpose overall. But, whether due to the scale, or general NY/LA differences, it was actually a pleasure to casually walk the show and talk with participants, rather than run around in a frenzy trying to catch it all.
One booth where my senses were actually intrigued and happily engaged was at the A+R Store. The LA shop had a few new, interesting sound design objects for the home, for music and otherwise. Each have a refreshing take on how we hear.
Balance-Wu's loop speaker
Taiwanese designers Balance-Wu's loop speaker is a hollow loop of pressed, recycled paper pulp. The power supply and amp sit in the base, distributing sound through the circular tube, with the paper acting as a filter. The speaker has a rechargeable battery and USB outlet, and connects via an earphone plug. The device is incredibly lightweight, the sound is decent, and the presence of the paper pulp loop is nicely subtle but recognizable as a speaker.
Balance-Wu's loop speaker
Another interesting sound machine in the A+R space was Louise van der Veld's Chick-a-dee Smoke Detector (pictured at top). Inspired by the "canary in a coalmine" story of miners relying on canaries' senses to detect and warn of gas leaks, van der Veld created the American black-capped Chickadee to detect and warn of smoke. After winning the Dutch Association of Insurer's competition for new solutions for fire prevention back in 2006, the design was recently approved for use in US homes.
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