Product Design: Those aren't bowls, they're speakers designed by Particules

Hold on to your hats kids because this is a little more complex than it looks. The images above and below show the work of Particules Studio, a french product design duo doing remarkable things with simple objects. Their Objets Sans Âge series in particular pushes traditional materials in wholly unique directions, fusing ceramic, wood and exposed electrical circuitry to produce radios, alarm clocks, speaker systems and light switches that are uniquely tactile.

They are, they say, defining “a new typology of objects, more timeless and emotional, playing both on an archaic and technological identity… Each material was chosen for its tactile, sensory and functional potential: porcelain is highlighted through its different qualities (translucence, tone, visual and tactile smoothness, strength, electric resistance), as well as wood and gold enamel, which is normally used as decoration, here revealing its great electric conductivity.”

The results are a set of beautifully designed products that completely redefine the way we see household technology with aesthetically sensitive modular products that kick against the trend for sleek black boxes with smooth touch screens.