MONAD Studio: 3D Printing Musical Instruments

We were lucky enough to sit down with Monad Studio recently to discuss their recent developments. Monad Studio have created some of the most beautiful, 3D printed instruments we have ever seen. These include instruments used by Viktoria Modesta and more, spanning violins, guitar, and even grand pianos. We asked them how they got into 3D printing, their inspirations, and their plans for the future.

3DN: Could you introduce us to Monad Studio and talk about your relationship with 3D printing?

MONAD Studio is an architecture studio formed in New York by Veronica Zalcberg and Eric Goldemberg (Argentines of origin), after graduating from the Advanced Master of Architecture at Columbia University in 2002. At that time we could visualize in a computer very innovative shapes and spaces based on curvilinear surfaces, but we still could not move from the virtual world of the screen to concrete materialization.

When moving to Miami in 2006 and taking a job as director of digital architecture at Florida International University (Eric’s job), we started using 3D printers and CNC milling machines to explore the concrete form. This allowed us to learn the possibilities and productive limitations of a new materiality that allowed us to develop all kinds of objects and installations at the scale of the human body. This experimentation at a 1:1 scale allowed us to leave behind the purely virtual world and concentrate on projects, mostly in relation to the art world.