Project
Cantilever
Client
Yamaha, Japan
Production
2008 (not in production)
Cantilever was an electronic piano that used the qualities of synthetic material and minimal presence to counter any perception of inferiority in digital sound output, compared with the classical string piano. It represented a new typology that brought the electronic piano into modernity. Cantilever's two simple volumes could only be achieved with electronic components, and created a new type of form that started to give pride back to this type of product. Functionally, the top surface could be gently pushed back to reveal the piano keys, with the 89th key serving as a remote control for playback and navigation.
The challenge in Industrial Facility's eyes was to strip away all metaphor and iconography that had previously plagued this type of product, and to create a digital piano on its own merits. The image of a faux grand piano was removed. What you were left with was the space to create something monumental on a digital level. Piano-ness is achieved not with image, but with feeling. Shortly after its public release Yamaha retreated from its development due to economic conditions.
Exhibitions
Salone Internationale del Mobile, Milan, 2008
Further Reading
