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Fidular
Fidular is a cross-cultural, modular system designed for traditional bowed fiddles from Asia and the Middle East. Whereas traditional fiddles have permanently bonded components, Fidular enables the user to instantly disassemble and interchange chamber, strings and shafts between various fiddles with unprecedented cross-compatibility. Functioning with both traditional and novel digitally fabricated chambers, Fidular allows players to customize timbre by “mixing and matching” fiddle parts on-the-fly.
As a luthier’s apprentice in Northern Thailand, I learnt how design and fabrication of traditional instruments like the Thai Sloh fiddle have remained unchanged for centuries. Western instruments however, undergo continuous innovation. Inspired by 3D printed violins and modular guitars, I wanted to re-imagine traditional instruments with new technologies and address the changing needs of today’s musicians and audiences from Thailand and across Asia.
Fidular manifests my vision of "culture-aware technology": a convergence of future and traditional technologies, engineered for cross-cultural fluidity. The project fuses modern acoustics and digital fabrication with a variety of craftsmanship heritages and traditional musics. Fidular embraces the notion of cultural plurality as a fundamental design principle.
Engineering modular connections required a new mechanism compatible with different chamber geometries and preserved critical acoustics.Since its premiere, Fidular has sparked excitement in “millennial generation” youths and positive commitments from older, “conservative” musicians and luthiers. I imagine musicians collecting chambers from luthiers around the world, downloading designs by other users and fabricating personal resonators in a FabLab. I hope Fidular can re-invigorate interest in traditional cultures among the youth, by pushing its boundaries into cutting edge domains of technology.
As a luthier’s apprentice in Northern Thailand, I learnt how design and fabrication of traditional instruments like the Thai Sloh fiddle have remained unchanged for centuries. Western instruments however, undergo continuous innovation. Inspired by 3D printed violins and modular guitars, I wanted to re-imagine traditional instruments with new technologies and address the changing needs of today’s musicians and audiences from Thailand and across Asia.
Fidular manifests my vision of "culture-aware technology": a convergence of future and traditional technologies, engineered for cross-cultural fluidity. The project fuses modern acoustics and digital fabrication with a variety of craftsmanship heritages and traditional musics. Fidular embraces the notion of cultural plurality as a fundamental design principle.
Engineering modular connections required a new mechanism compatible with different chamber geometries and preserved critical acoustics.Since its premiere, Fidular has sparked excitement in “millennial generation” youths and positive commitments from older, “conservative” musicians and luthiers. I imagine musicians collecting chambers from luthiers around the world, downloading designs by other users and fabricating personal resonators in a FabLab. I hope Fidular can re-invigorate interest in traditional cultures among the youth, by pushing its boundaries into cutting edge domains of technology.
