Inspired by the 'grace and solidity' of Zodiaq® and the 'tactile, technically astonishing properties' of Corian®, designer Dody Nash has conceived of an exhibition space at 100% Design 2004 in which shape, perspective, sound, colour and texture all play dramatic, interconnecting roles.

Sculpted from DuPont™ Corian®
The Listening Shell, designed by Dody Nash and Julian Brown, is a dynamic, functional sculpture fashioned out of Corian. The smooth sleek, homogenous qualities of the material have been explored through thermoforming and seamless bonding to create an object of striking beauty. More than simply a visual experience, however, the Listening Shell is an interactive design that invites the visitor both to touch it and to come inside the ball-shaped shell, where an audio experience allows its guest to ‘listen’ in a slightly different way.

Nash and Brown on the Listening Shell
“Originally created for berio lounge, a project to celebrate the composer Luciano Berio at the Royal Festival Hall, the Listening Shell is a meeting point between the worlds of music and design, and between rational and artistic language. We were inspired to use Corian, as in some ways it can take on the quality of a seashell. We felt our challenge was to use the material in a ‘design-acoustic-artistic’ way. Corian is used usually as either a countertop surface or cladding material – we wanted to draw out its physical, tactile, structural qualities.

"Another advantage to using Corian in this way is that it’s inert and so doesn’t cause resonant interference, making it ideal for audio and acoustic applications. There is a common sound throughout the shell – the listener is in a micro-environment. A unique audio encounter awaits the visitor inside a Listening Shell…a comfortable, den-like place inside the coolness and the smoothness of sensuously shaped Corian. People can sit, lie or even curl up, within a spatial respite. The shell also has the physical and spiritual quality of a musical instrument."

Dody continues, "I’ve been imagining how great the Listening Shell would look on many different surfaces – a grassy lawn, a shingly beach, rough granite rock, and now for the 100% Design DuPont Surfaces Gallery, a quartz-based surface. Placing the Listening Shell in a hollow of Zodiaq® in Sterling emphasises, for me, its 'of-the-sea' properties. I’m imagining the hollows the sea creates in granite boulders, around smaller, static stones. In this context, the Listening Shell is pure and pod like. It reminds me of the strange and sea washed organic forms you find on beaches, such as shepherd’s purse."

For more information please visit the website of Dody Nash.

http://www.media-globe.com/100percentdesign2/corian/listeningshell.htm