Nature in the digital age – Nalo

Just like in plants, the photovoltaic liquid rises in the morning, collecting and converting the power from the sun and receding towards the end of the day and resting overnight. For this project – a speaker to be used and experienced within nature – Nicole Hone experimented with low-cost FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) 3d printing which led to her discovery that she could produce a double-wall profile with an intact cavity inside. Fine-tuning of the printing parameters resulted in a cavity that could work like a plants’ phloem and transport the liquid through capillary action.

The experience of listening to music is taken to a new level by re-connecting one with nature and reaping more than just emotional rewards. The physical and mental benefits of being outside and touching soil are well documented and have been taken into careful consideration of the design.

Nalo displays physical characteristics that clearly place it in the realm of digital products, but the mechanism powering it is based on processes omnipresent in nature. Acknowledging these processes is not only paying homage, but extending our capacity to co-create with nature.

Nicole Hone

Nicole has always had a passion for visual arts and graphics and discovered that the Industrial Design program at Victoria University in Wellington (New Zealand) offered the opportunity to make her ideas become tactile reality (which other people could interact with). Her latest project under the supervision of Ross Stevens is a speaker that combines the intricate versatility of 3D printing and the natural phenomenon of capillary action with the beauty of flowering plants and their daily rhythm.