Truly Hard Rock Radio

Korean designer Cheol-Ki Jo’s radical redesign of a common houshold radio results in one with no knobs, slide pots, or other usual controls for volume and tuning.

Instead, users place stones of varied sizes on top of the wood case. Certain circular areas there are designed to electronically register pressure via “load cells,” as seen in the diagram at right.

From unplggd.com:

Depending on the weight being balanced upon the two radial surfaces, the concept unit’s volume and frequency are adjusted, making this less of an actual device and more of an art installation piece. It’s still an interesting idea (“Honey, can you give me back the speckled white stone and the three black pebbles so I can listen to NPR?”).

Art installation piece, or maybe children’s device, generating a true experience of discovery and play? Whatever, it represents some serious top-of-the-box thinking.