The amazing, musical Knittophone

This is a Kittophone. Developed by Azusa Murakami, it’s a “new type of musical instrument” that utalizes knitting – yes, knitting – to convey the joy of making music. Sounds strange and amazing, doesn’t it? Well, you’re right. It is. But it’s also quite fascinating and beautiful. This piece is from artyarn.org, a great blog site.

‘Knittophone is a new type of musical instrument. It uses knitting to communicate the joy of music making and practice through rhythm, pattern, structure, language and repetition. By learning how to knit and to translate musical notations into patterns, the user will be able to construct a visual record of their improvement. The Knittophone can then be swiped over the surface of the knitting which translates the patterns into music.

‘The knitted and paper patterns on the right produce the tune of ‘Happy Birthday’ when scanned. The patterns in the piece on the left produce an abstract sound as an interpretation of the knitted pattern.

Azuza Knits

In this piece, Azusa knits with needles that produce a sound which alters in pitch throughout the length of the needle. When the piece of knitting then passes through the laptop reader, the pattern is interpreted into sound and produces a bass tone. The two sounds together, the act of knitting and the reading of the pattern make music.

KNITTOPHONE is displayed in the ‘Making Fun Serious‘ exhibition by Design Projects Royal Collect of Art YAMAHA Project, as part of the Futuresonic Festival in Manchester.

Azuza’s amazing and artful blog is here.