Node, advancing audio design thanks to 3D printing technologies

Based in the UK, Node is the vision of British industrial designers Ashley May and David Evans to bring a new relevance to high quality audio. The designers developed their debut speaker Hylixa to explore new opportunities in acoustic design. They quickly realised 3D printing technologies offered many benefits in terms of design and performance. Therefore, the Hylixa speaker not only looks different, but it also sounds different. Even though it is rather small and aesthetically pleasing thanks to its organic and sleek shape, it performs just like a large box speaker. We were interested in learning more about the design and production process behind Hylixa, so we spoke to Ashley May who is behind the vision of the company. He also told us more about the impact 3D printing technologies were having on consumer goods!

3DN: Can you present yourself and your link with 3D printing?

Node is the vision of David Evans and myself, to explore new opportunities in acoustic design by exploiting additive manufacturing (AM) to its full potential. This research started over 3 years ago, but really our exposure to AM stretches back over a decade, where we ran a product design and innovation consultancy called Studio17, which we still oversee to this today.

Ashley May

Historically, we’ve used 3D printing as a prototyping tool for developing products for mass manufacture through our consultancy business. Whilst perfectly useful for prototyping, we always knew the greater potential for additive manufacturing to create end-use parts that completely re-write the rule book of what’s possible.