Tag Archives: Love Hultén

Love Hulten’s quirky storage cabinet is inspired by IBM’s Magnetic Tape Unit from the 60s!

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In 1964, IBM released the 2401 Magnetic Tape Unit. It was designed to be used with IBM’s celebrated System/ 360 family of computers! Though this Magnetic Tape Unit is an icon in archives, it’s still a major source of inspiration! Love Hulten designed a commissioned storage cabinet called ‘MTC’, which is inspired specifically by the IBM 2401 Magnetic Tape Unit. Almost 57 years later, and this mesmerizing unit has still got it! Showcasing white, and the primary colours red and blue, the cabinet is a quirky piece of furniture perfect for storing all sorts of items.

As intriguing as it does look, the tape mechanism is sadly for decoration purposes only! It cannot actually be operated, although running DS motors, blinking LEDs, and audio streaming of vintage computer sound samples do make it seem as if the tape unit actually does function! A control unit at the top of the cabinet, which is run by an Arduino board, can be used to regulate the motors, lights and audio. The lower section of the product functions as the actual cabinet. It has sufficient space to store a variety of diverse objects, from your office supplies to other miscellaneous items. However, I do feel MTC would be more appropriate for an office space, rather than a home space! Although the whirling noises from the tape mechanism may disturb those sincerely at work.

MTC features an interesting twist on an otherwise ordinary piece of furniture. It elevates the mundane storage cabinet by adding a playful techy detail to it that will take many people down memory lane! I do feel it’s an innovative feature that will excite all the tech geeks out there!

Designer: Love Hulten





Love Hultén’s macabre little synthesizer features 25 singing dentures!

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I can practically see myself playing Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes on this!

Meet the VOC-25, a rather weird little synth from our favorite mad-scientist, Love Hultén. It sports a 25-key synth that’s directly hooked to a, well, display and control board that sports 25 plastic teeth that open to sing out the notes you play on the keyboard.

Inspired by a musical instrument originally created by Simone Giertz, the VOC-25 takes things to quite another level, with controls that let you fine-tune the synthesizer’s sound. Four mod-knobs below the teeth allow you to tweak the sound, while a circular display works as an oscillator, showing you the waveform. The surrealist synth comes with an Axoloti Core microcontroller board on the inside, that’s hooked to a 25-key keyboard. Notes that you play are sent to the controller board as MIDI signals, which are then converted to DC currents. These currents control individual solenoids inside the 25 plastic teeth, allowing them to open and close when you play a note.

The VOC-25, as experimental as it is, is quite an ingenious toy! It lets you build your own ‘choir’ by recording RAW vocal audio samples and editing them on the fly. Gives a completely different meaning to ‘backing vocals’, doesn’t it?!

Designer: Love Hultén

The 1976 Apple computer-I can now get a custom made bespoke, midcentury luxury case it deserves!

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It’s hard to imagine Steve Jobs selling his Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus to help fund and produce friend, Steve Wozniack’s hand-built and custom-designed Apple Computer-I back in 1976, but that’s how the story goes. The Apple Computer-I, more casually called Apple-I, is a desktop computer that’s hardly in circulation today due to its discontinuation with Apple-II’s debut. Wozniak and Jobs first sold Apple-1 as only a bare board, a single-etched and silkscreened circuit board, with no electronic parts so that consumers could build their own computers, only needing an additional television set and keyboard. Today, Sweden-based designer, Love Hultén builds his own re-interpretation of Apple-1, or rather a midcentury display case to cradle the old tech relic, and calls it Aple.

Aple is a bespoke, made-to-order, battery-operated display cabinet that encases original, ‘Woz-built,’ Apple motherboards from 1976 or later. Unlike Apple-I’s consumer products, Hultén’s display case comes equipped with a fully integrated keyboard and monitor protection framing that’s hand-constructed out of either black walnut or old growth teak wood. The wooden monitor housing perches above the display cabinet on an angled mount carved from the same wood as the rest of the case. On the display case’s right side, a pull out drawer reveals the motherboard’s circuitry. Mostly enclosed, Apple-I’s circuit board can be magnified by looking through the case’s plexiglass dome, resembling a crystal ball cut in half, which Love Hultén might have included to evoke 1970s era mysticism. The backside of Hultén’s Aple unveils a retro, standard switchboard that deepens the product’s tribute to the technology of yesterday, eliciting curiosity for all the functions and hidden features to be unlocked.

The development and story of Apple-I are just as exciting today as years ago and Love Hultén is giving the tech giant’s initial success a brand new stage. Love Hultén is known for taking timely products, like tropical-themed synth players and portable, arcade-period gaming consoles, and turning them into artfully funky displays that give the designs of yesterday a timeless fit for today. Be sure to check out the rest of Love Hultén’s work and hey, if you ever find yourself with one of the six operating Apple-1’s in circulation today, send it over to Hultén for a modern-day facelift, he knows what to do.

Designer: Love Hultén

This miniature Wintergatan-inspired mechanical marvel uses marbles to create music!

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We are no stranger to Love Hultén’s wonderfully quirky creations – from the Retro Coffee table that merges the love of retro gaming with our need to keep the java buzz going to a Dieter Rams’ inspired gaming console that is on all our Christmas wishlist. This time the Swedish designer brings to life an interpretation of Martin Molin’s music machine X — a marble powered music box!

Marin Molin, best known for his band Wintergatan (the ingenious wooden hand-cranked machine that plays music with 2000 marbles) is the inspiration behind the MMXS, Marble Machine XS, is a miniature homage to Molin’s ongoing music project Marble Machine X. The designer explains, “The programming wheel design of MMXS imitates Molin’s original, but instead of tactile interaction and acoustic elements – MMXS relies on a DC motor for mechanics combined with sounds generated by a synthesizer(Axoloti Core).” An 8-month long love of labor, the machine relies on a DC motor to run the mechanics while the sounds are generated by a synthesizer. The design features 16 notes, 128 programming bars, 10 different sound presets, speed control, volume, and a built-in speaker! The music is created by the marbles being released from their height via programmable gates. The close-up images of the design show the old-school Meccano toy set finish, giving this DIY electronics machine a unique retro aesthetic.

Measuring 50x20x20cm, the design is smaller in overall built, reducing the dependency on using the entire body to play the music as was in the original design and making it a more finger-operated gadget. The marvel of all the unique elements, coming together with such mechanical genius makes us all aspiring puzzle-makers want to solve a design this complex. Don’t forget to check out the video to watch all the complex machinery work in a seamless symphony!

Designer: Love Hultén

This retro coffee table transforming into a gaming console is peak modern furniture

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I don’t like to play games with my morning coffee but I would play games while drinking my morning coffee for sure! This coffee table doubles down as a gaming console and it is exactly what we need while staying home in 2020.

An homage to retro gaming machines and furniture enthusiasts, this coffee table is one of its kind. Swedish designer Love Hulten has created a slim slide-out console with 2-player arcade joysticks & push-button gaming controls. It is inspired by the old-school gaming arcades and includes the big buttons as well as a joystick that is also a knob for the coffee table. The custom-crafted table features a wireless gaming system that connects with your smart TV for modern yet classic home gaming. With a classic American walnut and brass aesthetic, the table’s form will appeal to most and allow it to blend in any interior style.

“The wireless setup connects to your TV via a small wooden console, no cables,” says Hulten on his Instagram noting that this console-coffee table is a visually cleaner, chord-free piece to own. Arcade games are cool, but I am not a YouTuber so they would look weird in my house. However, a sleek table that masks a whole gaming console is exactly what I would go for (till I become a famous YouTuber). Hulten is known to only make limited-edition pieces using his love for everything retro and his knack for getting modern design right. This coffee table brings together nostalgia and technology in the most playful yet subtle way possible. Player 1 is ready!

Designer: Love Hulten

Look closely, this rack of speakers is actually a mechanized drum-kit!

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Maverick creator Love Hultén is turning drumming into a visual art form of sorts! Slagwerk-101 is an audiovisual sculpture that uses a series of percussive instruments and turns them into a physical interpretation of a digital drum-machine. By simply mounting sticks on, which are actuated using a signal board that reads MIDI signals and converts them into real beats, Slagwerk-101 is perhaps one of the most tongue-in-cheek interpretations of the words Electronic Dance Music.

The setup involves individual instrument units that come together in a modular setup. This modular nature allows Slagwerk 101 to expand or contract, and be laid out in a variety of different ways. The individual drum modules include everything from kick drums, to snares, toms, and hi-hats, to even some unusual ones, like the tambourine, a pair of hands (they’re wooden), and a Saturday Night Live classic, the cowbell. Sticks are attached to electromagnetic solenoids, and can be plugged right into individual modules using quarter-inch jacks, and can be routed to the signal board, which translates beats playing from a connected laptop. The result is a set up worth geeking out over. The laptop sends beats to the drum-kit, which play the loops back in real-time with stunning response time… Professor Terence Fletcher from the movie Whiplash would be pretty proud of this machine’s tempo.

Designer: Love Hultén

This Dieter Rams’ Inspired Retro Gaming Console Is Power-packed With 21st Century Tech!

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“Good design is as little as possible. Less, but better, because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.” said Dieter Rams.

The willful force behind the Functional Design Movement, German industrial designer Rams has created timeless products, with an aim to focus on their functionality rather than their aesthetics. Following his footsteps, Love Hultén has designed one of the most simple and clear cut retro gaming consoles I’ve seen: the R-Kaid-R SK-4. Though Rams’ list of ingenious pieces is long, Love Hultén has carefully taken their pick adding little sneak peeks of the SK-4 record player and T3 pocket radio, sending us on a trip down memory lane. While the gaming industry seems to be creating more and more products with an intense futuristic appeal, Love Hulten has decided to stick to its old school roots. They have taken it one step further by hailing Dieter Rams as their inspiration, including glimpses of his “Less, but better” ideology to their work.

Sleek, simple, with arcade-style controls, the R-Kaid-R SK-4’s looks may have a vintage appeal but its functionality is deeply rooted within the 21stcentury with its ability to store 10,000 emulated games! Accompanied by its own screen and a built-in speaker, the console closes up like a briefcase, providing us with a ‘playful’ travel-sized sidekick wherever we go! Add your favorite games through a USB, and you can hit the play button anytime anywhere, giving you access to your very own personal game library. A piece of good news for all gaming connoisseurs; you can go on playing for 10 hours straight before the R-Kaid-R SK-4 finally gets exhausted!

A total contradiction of its complex name, the R-Kaid-R SK-4 is a living embodiment of Rams’ design philosophy. Now we’re not sure if this personal tribute to Rams will ever be up for sale, but we do know we’d love to get our hands on it someday!

Designer: Love Hultén 

SK-4 Record player (1956) and T3 Pocket radio (1958), Dieter Rams, Braun. 

Love Hulten’s EvoBoxx Plays the Game of Life

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Designer Love Hulten has created some truly amazing pieces of retro-inspired technology, from arcade cabinets, to computers, to giant LEGO replicas. Love’s latest build is unlike any that has come before it. The EvoBoxx is a visual synthesizer that’s designed around the classic cellular simulation Game of Life.

The portable wooden box contains a small screen that displays a rudimentary, pixelated simulation of virtual lifeforms based on the classic 1970 computer program by JH Conway. This version of the program was created by Love’s former art school classmate happybits. The EvoBoxx has a monophonic speaker for delivering audio feedback, and provides a series of analog controls – four dials and a trackball – for influencing the world on screen.

You can check out a video of the system in action below, and when you’re done with that, you can play with a cool online version of the Game of Life simulator here.

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Go Back to the Arcade with the Pong-inspired OriginX Cabinet

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Back in the day, most of the games in arcades were stand-up cabinets, but a few were sit down table style games. I don’t remember ever seeing wall mounted arcade games back in the day, but there are a handful of them available these days. Industrial designer Love Hulten is showing off a slick wall-mounted arcade machine that looks like it was transported from the early days of video games.

The OriginX looks like it came straight out of the arcade days because it’s an obvious homage to the original Pong cabinet from 1972. Inside the cabinet is a modern computer that has all the old games you might want to play, thanks to MAME. It can be customized to run the original JAMMA board of your choice though if you prefer to run with original hardware.

It has a 19-inch 4:3 LCD and a custom barrel distortion filter to mimic CRT monitors from the arcades of yore. The cabinet can be customized to your color desires and only 50 units will be made.  This thing is far from cheap, selling in Europe for €2,899 or about $3,400 (USD). There is no word on availability outside of Europe, but hopefully you’ll be able to buy one of these stateside if you’ve got deep enough pockets.

[via Love Hulten]

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