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The Unusual Design Inspiration Behind Robert Majkut's Whaletone Piano

By Rain Noe - May 25, 2011

in Object Culture

Redesigning a grand piano is pretty ballsy. The form factor and overall lines are pretty firmly entrenched, and the types of people who'll pony up for one aren't known for their embrace of radical redesigns. Then there's the challenge of trying to break the lines already seared in your head from viewing an object with such an established form.

Still, I do believe Polish designer Robert Majkut has pulled it off with his Whaletone Piano. Using the unlikely inspiration of an imprecise dream he had after a daytime whale viewing, Majkut set to work:I realized how little had changed in this instrument over so many years. Intrigued with this discovery, I began to chase the dim picture trapped in my memory [of the dream]. At first, my mind lead me astray, struggling with habits, experience, intuition and beliefs. It took me a long time to sketch the form, which came across as something vaguely imitating the vision concealed in my mind. And then, one day, while working on this concept already a bit obsessively, my mind unlocked and my hand drew the piano from my dream. I immediately recognized it. I instantly knew I got it.

Monumental—like a whale emerging from the water, slow—like the movement of a giant. Charming, majestic, delicate and melodious, like romantic calls of coquetting whales...

I knew it called for being made.

From that moment on, I have known that in the depths of our minds there are ready-made, complete, good ideas. Concepts, forms, choices that are beyond our comprehension until we release them. This is one of them—Whaletone—my version of a singing whale.

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M4RK

13 years ago

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Plus all these designs from dreams are a slap in the face to the design community, where real designers invent new ideas on a daily basis and strategic processes - i mean, what are you going to say to a potential client 'yeah well it depends whether i dream or not tonight...' It's bad for design to go out saying this stuff. And what material is this supposed to be made from? There's a reason why wood is used..... so what kind of tree did this come from?

Man these insenstive designs get under my skin. FFS design what you want but then it's wrong to support this is a great design.
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M4RK

13 years ago

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He probably got subconciously influenced after seeing a Microsoft Arc mouse at WalMart...
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Guus Baggermans

13 years ago

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I would love to see the acoustic analysis of this thing.

Kind of reminds me of Bram Geenen's Gaudi Chair too:

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/five_examples_of_stereolithographic_furniture_17871.asp
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Matt

13 years ago

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I'll second the BS.

First, there's a reason why pianos evolved to look the way they do. If you're designing with your eyes and not your ears, you're not designing a fuctional piano.

That being said,

Second, if this is such a radical redesign of the piano form, why does it look almost exactly like Schimmel's Pegusus piano (google Schimmel K208), from almost 5 years ago?
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powers

13 years ago

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Very nice. Colani and Porsche have also done nice redesigns.
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jg

13 years ago

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i call bullshit on this. complete finished ideas don't exist only conceptually - they require work, refinement, problem solving.
He didn't just dream this thing up and "release" it.... bullshit i say! doesn't exist.
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