"Maker Tales” is an ongoing series on knowable, where we highlight outstanding Makers and their projects. This time we spoke with Ryu Yamamoto and Leonardo Amico, the makers of the awesome „Stone Pad“ – knowable’s latest „Project of the Week“
Great to have you both here! To start things off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Ryu Yamamoto: I'm a product designer born in 1986, in Tokyo, Japan. I'm interested in exploring the relationship between people, the environment they live in and their daily life. I think that product design should be more strongly connected with technology. This may come from my Japanese background: We have a lot of big electronic companies where great care is given to the design. I really think that the interaction between a designer and an engineer can provide richer answers and insights. I would like to create new objects that emerge from this fusion of two different backgrounds. I'd like to add new values to the design process; adding knowledge that does not only belong to an esthetics-only world.
What about you, Leaonardo? What is your background?
Leonardo Amico: I'm a researcher at the University of Padua, where I design and develop interactive software for education. The rest of my day is spent hacking and coding for my own projects. Lately I've been interested in integrating technology in simple ordinary products. This is also the direction of some projects I'm currently developing together with Ryu and others. Small appliances and house objects are witnesses of people’s daily lifes. They provide some sort of gateway to their private sphere - this really fascinates me. Also, all the interest now generated around the Internet of Things is creating so many resources in terms of technology and community that makes everything easier and a lot more fun.
How did you get started as Designers?
R. Y. : I originally studied architecture at the University in Tokyo. But after university I become more interested in the design of smaller objects. So I started to work as a product designer at Fabrica, a research and communication center sponsored by Benetton. I’m trying to make new objects that I’d be happy to have and use myself. My goal is to create an environment full of things I designed. Objects, interior and even buildings.
L. A. : My background is in Electronic Engineering, and strangely enough this is a strongly theoretical affaire in Italy. It involves a lot of mathematics – but really little hands-on practice. During my time at university I've been in an electronics lab once in 5 years! I think that it was my strong interest in music and sound which drove me to actually making things. From playing guitar to music programming to building oscillators and hacking radios and turntables until finally getting everything together.
I also had a one year scholarship in Fabrica – and that was also really important for me! Fabrica is like a small network of like minded people from any sort of creative background put together in a beautiful building. It's like taking the best of virtual communities, with the difference that you’ve got to actually meet the members in person everyday. Ideas flow all the time and collaborations grows naturally there.
Yes, that sounds like a great place. Is that also where you two got together to create the Stone Pad? Can you tell us a bit more about how it came to life?
R.Y.: Jhon William Castaño Montoya, a musician at Fabrica, was making an album inspired from german mineralogist Friedrich Mohs. He came to us with the idea of making some physical object related to its music. A musical instrument made out of stones seemed like a natural choice. This percussion instrument would mimic the diversity of minerals in the Mohs scale by linking each of them to a specific sound, allowing the musician to perform his music by using stones as if they were piano keys. The instrument’s wooden structure is arranged in a spiral, a recurring shape in nature, suggesting harmonic growth. It builds up from the ground, from a foundation filled with rocks. Like stone flowers, some blossom toward the sky on wooden stems.
L.A.: During the realization of the Stone Pad we went through lots of sketches, a paper prototype, a more functional prototype, then the actual wooden structure and the electronics for it. I also had to learn the hard way that stone is not the most simple material to work with. An initial version was using piezos for sensing the stones being hit, but that wasn't any reliable for the musicians to play it live. After another round of tests we figured out a solution using ink-based force sensors, small hinges, and adhesive felt. Pretty neat actually!
So I guess you build all you project at Fabrica, then. Are you part of any “offline” hackerspace besides that?
L.A.: When I was in Fabrica I had a lot of space and tools for making things. But I’ve just moved to Padova a couple of days ago, and at the moment my workspace is my bedroom. But there’s a Fablab in the city, which I’m planning to visit soon.
R.Y.: We have some small workshop facilities at Fabrica. But some of our objects are also produced by local artisans.
Are you working on other projects at the moment?
L.A.: I'm actually working for BIO50, the Design Biennale of Ljubljana that will take place next September. I've been selected with other people for preparing an exhibition around the theme “Hacking Households”. Apart from that, me and Ryu are about to finish our second project together. It’s a simple domestic object that deals with memory. But it’ll be finished so soon that there’s no point in ruining the surprise! Hardware and software will be released Open Source, so by then all its guts and bits will be available to anyone.
R.Y.: Apart from the project Leonardo was talking about, I’m also working on the Hot & Cold exhibition, which is a collaboration with Fabrica and Daikin for the upcoming Milano Salone del Mobile 2014 in April. This is a series of multi-sensory installations, inviting visitors to participate in an immersive laboratory of hot and cold experiences.
A lot of things going on then! Really looking forward to your next project! One last question: Where can people find you online?
R.Y.: The best place is my homepage.
L.A.: Yes, I guess that is also true for me!
