Ring My Bell

DONG! TRRRRRR! Or maybe even GLING! Or BLING!, MHHHH! And sometimes even BRAOUM! ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne presents an offbeat collection of interactive doorbells developed by first-year Bachelor Industrial Design students, under the joint guidance of Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard, Head of Bachelor Industrial Design, and Mathieu Rivier, a Bachelor Media & Interaction Design graduate. Sound and object design are two notions that industrial designers rarely have the opportunity to associate. However, most common objects potentially produce sounds. All you have to do is pull a chair, open and close a drawer or press a switch to generate sound. Common factors: movement, friction and interaction, which allow basic physics processes to create tones. In this perspective, the students offered a fresh and original look at an ordinary object, often invisible, but never discreet: the doorbell. Whether mechanical or electrical, the bells they have invented reveal a unique, sometimes even thundering, sound experience. Here, the classic carillon gives way to a curious metallophone powered by a perforated card reminiscent of traditional mechanical music boxes. The old door knocker is exchanged for a vibrating dong! The familiar buzzer is replaced by an efficient drum roll. The usual bell replaces a strange device that makes a great sound. Finally, the usual ding-dong is swapped for a resounding mhhhhh ! dear to the bovine race, to name but a few of the devices presented. Come in and ring the bell! www.ecal-ringmybell.ch

Studio project (2019) with Cédric Duchêne, Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard, Mathieu Rivier