Smart Design: Radio by Singgih Kartono

Lately, I've been a bit obsessed about smart design thanks to Mark Paik turning me onto Ideo and the like. Anyway, after a day blast down to Champaign, I woke up this morning and was greeted by a morsel of smart design by an Indonesian man named Singgih Kartono.

From the picture above, it looks like all he did was create a radio. No big deal, right? I mean they have been around for the past century. But if you peel back the skin a bit and look at how that radio came to fruition you'd realize it has much more of an impact than the waves it touts.

First and foremost, the radio took thirteen years to develop. And before you scoff and dismiss him thinking even you could make one in thirteen committed years, I have to clarify that it wasn't just the physical radio that developed. You see with smart design, the creator aims to not only function as a product, but act as a meaningful part of the life and culture that exists around them.

Asia Pacific News said this:

"The radios are made from Pinewood, Mahogany and Albasia – wood from trees indigenous to Indonesia. And Singgih plants a replacement tree for each one he uses.

He explained: “(This is) because wood is a soulful material. Wood tells us about life, balance and limits. When I combine electronic products with wood material, it seems like a soul embodied, it makes a closer relation to us. ”

The radio started out as a final year university project in 1992 when he was studying product design, and it took 13 years to start production. The main challenge was difficulty in sourcing small numbers of radio circuits, to be encased in Singgih’s wooden radio casing.

Suppliers normally only sell a minimum of 1,000 radio circuits per purchase. But in 2005, a supplier finally agreed to sell Singgih 100 radio circuits."

And not only is he wrapping up pieces of Indonesia in his radio project and thinking green-conscious, but he's also creating jobs for his fellow villagers to help manufacture his creation. I love it.