Lunar tunes: Patterns give radio intuitive touch

France – Ethereal materials, intuitive design and pared-down prints come together in this Hibou Gilded Ceramic Radio by French designers Celia Torvisco and Raphaël Pluvinage.

The radio operates by touch, with users controlling the volume, frequency and on/off functions with gentle swipes of the finger over the surface of the device. These movements are detected by palladium, a metal within the paint used to gild the object. Palladium, a lustrous rare metal named after the asteroid Pallas, conducts the electricity conveyed by human touch.

The patterns on the radio are designed to make using the device easy and intuitive. The volume control, for example, is drawn out into a long thin line in order to allow fine-tuning – an effective example of our Emotional Technology microtrend. The radio’s elegant, silvery design lends the radio a celestial quality redolent of our Lunar Grace design direction.

For more on the appeal of tactile music players, read our Digi-Tactile microtrend.