A kind of far-fetched clay speakers might sound novel to you, yet nowadays music speakers made from clay have appeared on the market.
The makers of such speakers are from a German start-up called Mapu. They say the product is around 80 percent biodegradable (可生物降解的). That's not necessarily what most people look for in a set of speakers, but it's a commendablefeature at this time when electronic waste is piling up around the world.
The speakers are now often noticed due to their eco-friendly side, but those behind them did not set out to achieve that at first. The main inspiration was to keep traditional crafts alive in regions where they were disappearing, especially in rural Chile, where Pablo Ocqueteau, a co-founder of Mapu, was born. He, together with his partner Philinevon Agnes, had been wondering how to help bring traditional Chilean crafts into the modern world. Finally. they decided to make a speaker out of a traditional Chilean water jug found in most Chilean households.
Craftsmen in Nacimientoonce renowned for pottery (陶艺) but struggling to keep the art alive were only too happy to help the pair. After the first design of the speaker was made, Ocqueteauand Agnes talked with a professional engineer in Germany, who later proved the adapted clay jug had great potential as a speaker. Then the two cooperated with Sound Hub Denmark, whose engineers made slight changes to the speaker's design. Since then, potters in Nacimientohave created small groups of clay speakers. According to Duszeln, Maputypically pays craftsmen an above average fee for their work, and it has also funded tree-planting projects through ProNativo, an environmental organization, as well as a project to feed communities in Santiago during the first lockdown caused by the COVTID-19 pandemic.
The pair hope to make traditional crafts more attractive to young people. They also believe clay speakers can help further describe the benefits of clay, which has renewed significance in a world where people are concerned about the environment.
