What if you were the designer and producer of your own electronic devices?

To familiarise myself with the subject matter, I dismantled and deconstructed old speakers and headphones found in second hand stores and rebuilt them into new speakers that were more in line with Sphēra’s standards for repairability, aesthetics, and functionality. The shell of the created speaker consists of laser-cut, easy to assemble, acrylic panels made from leftover material, and a strap with snap closure. This way, the speaker provides easy access to the electronics in case something needs to be repaired or replaced.

While I was working on the speaker prototype, I had people track their listening habits—were they listening to music, a movie, a podcast? Did they use built-in speakers, headphones, bluetooth speakers? And how did they like their listening experience? After gathering this data, I conducted a workshop about the emotional attachment people have to their audio devices; to find out what could make people see their devices as longterm companions instead of disposable, replaceable gadgets. In order to test how we could increase people’s attachment to their devices, the participants had to bring their favourite headphones and turn them into little creatures with a personality and a super power. Then, they had to use their creatures to fight the creatures of other participants. After this little experiment, the participants mentioned that they now felt a closer connection to their headphones, and even said that they would feel guilty throwing them away in case of malfunction.

The main (physical) outcome of my project are modular headphones, consisting of re-used electronic parts, 3D-printed casings and headband and sponges used for the cushions. Consumers can customise their headphones on an online platform by setting different parameters, like the size of the electronic parts they would like to reuse or the material, colour, and pattern. This generates a fictive creature, a Metavore, to create an emotional attachment between the consumer and their audio companion. Taking inspiration from blockchain, the Metavore also tracks the material used, the location of production, ownership, etc.

The consumer can either produce the different parts themselves or get them produced in a nearby fablab, using 3D printing for the complex parts and local resources for the rest. Due to its modularity, the headphones are easy to repair or to re-customise.

The open-source Sphēra platform aims to support global collaboration while keeping production local. I believe that making the design and production more transparent, and the involvement of the consumer into the design and production process, can be a viable solution to raise people’s awareness of the impact of our consumption. Furthermore, it gives us the knowledge and tools to take full responsibility for our products, starting with their production, including their maintenance, and ending with their disposal.