Audio-visuals: Studio creates sound merchandise

13 : 08 : 2013 Music : Morse Code : Electric Deluxe

Arnhem, the Netherlands – Dutch design studio Hands has created merchandise for experimental record label Electric Deluxe in the Audio Transmitted Merchandise project. Inspired by the interplay between the digital and analogue worlds, the studio experimented with sound to produce t-shirts and bags.

The studio enlisted interactive designer Martijn Mellema to convert a digital print of Electric Deluxe founder Speedy J into sound. Mellema turned a 3D wire-frame rendering of Speedy J’s face into data that could be translated into Morse code. The code was then sent from one computer through a speaker to a receiver installed on another computer, which translated the sound back into a 3D image – but one with glitches.

‘Record label Electric Deluxe and DJ and owner Speedy J have a long history of making music by experimenting with sound,’ Hilmer Thijs, partner at Studio Hands, told LS:N Global. ‘It was a fitting opportunity for us to experiment to design their merchandise.’

Remapping the image through sound to create a new print, and then silkscreen-printing it by hand onto shirts brought the digital and analogue processes together. For more designers embracing sound as a tool to create a new aesthetic, see our Sonic Landscapes design direction.

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