A collaboration between LumiGeek and Autodesk received acclaim from the design, audiophile, and 3D printing communities. LumiGeek provided the audio-reactive LED technology inside the enclosures to turn them from regular speakers to a miniature light show.
Several online zines and blogs picked up the unique story:
LumiGeek and Autodesk enjoyed a highly artistic collaboration in early 2013 to create a pair of audio-reactive 3D printed speaker enclosures. The project was rather groundbreaking for several reasons.
First, there are very few instances where a 3D printed object is the final product, rather than an artifact of a larger process. (i.e. a proof of something to be injection molded en-mass) Small pieces of jewelry, precision aerospace parts, or medical implants are a small exception.
Second, the voxel-level control afforded by the Object printer allows for a unique combination of opaque and transparent areas to create never-before-seen lighting effects. The extruded ‘crystals’ are separated by an interior mesh of opaque material to light-pipe the LEDs.
Third, the ability to drive an array of multi-color, individually-addressable LED strip in such a confined space is very recent. This is where LumiGeek’s drivers come into play.
The collaboration was very well received in the design, 3d printing, and audiophile communities.
LumiGeek and Jen Lewin Studio took SXSW 2012 by storm with a large-scale art installation in a city park. The project was not sponsored by any corporation outside of SXSW. It was an experiment in civic art and public participation.
Wired.com wrote extensively about the project in their Design coverage. In this article, we are happy to be the ‘Flash’ and not the ‘Fizzle’.
Lewin’s sculpture and SXSW panel with LumiGeek co-founder, John Taylor, also received some blog attention:
An impossibly long string of balloons is a familiar sight at festivals and concerts across the country. The Balloon Chain by Robert Bose has graced Burning Man, Coachella, Lightning In A Bottle, and Treasure Island Music Festival, as well as international events such as Boom in Portugal and Fete des Lumieres in France.
LumiGeek co-founders Joe Martin and John Taylor met Robert Bose by chance at Coachella. They poised the question to Robert, “Have you considered multi-color LEDs and remote control?”. He quickly answered, “Of course, but I don’t have the slightest idea how to do it.”
After the chance meeting, Martin and Taylor set out to create a system with an ultra-light LED circuit board, rechargeable battery, color-changing LED, and a receive-only antenna. Prior to 2012, the balloons used an ingenius yet primitive lighting system consisting of a watch battery, LED, alligator clip, and hot glue.
Now the system has evolved to include a custom charging station for the circuits, a combination WiFi base station and RF transmitter to control patterns and colors at nearly a mile away, and a custom iPad application by Pat Barry to ‘finger paint’ on the strand of the balloons, as well as play video-based patterns in real-time.
Joe Martin helped Atlanta-based sculptor Zach Coffin light his massive steel and stone sculpture called The Universe Revolves Around You. The sculpture debuted at Burning Man in 2012.
Martin has helped Coffin for over a decade with lighting, including a work on Coffin’s seminal sculpture The Temple of Gravity that forever changed the scale of artwork at the Nevada festival.
