In the past we’ve featured DIY kits for putting together a gramophone from Kid Koala and other simple electronic devices from Yuri Suzuki. And now anyone can easily assemble bespoke, Bluetooth-friendly compact speakers, and get creative with their design.
The speaker kit is a brainchild of Mike Giles, who launched Furni almost a decade ago. The DIY gizmo is part of his latest collection ‘Be Prepared’, and comes with an amp, auxiliary audio line and a wall adapter. But the design of its casing and how it’s put together is down to the user.
To promote his new creation and show users how it’s done, Mike Giles asked six designers to come up with imaginative ideas for the speakers’ cover. Designer Aaron Daley went for a simple wooden hut-like shape, with splashes of cobalt. Phil Savard encased his in a sturdy ‘cloud’.
For creatively challenged, there is a downloadable template for the speakers’ exterior by the UK artist Matt Nicolson. It disguises the tech, and looks like an old-school boombox. And if even this is too much effort, there is always Furni’s own fully assembled Kendall kit.
When charged, the device can provide musical entertainment for up to four hours, making it a pretty fun alternative to the standard portable iPod speakers.