yuri suzuki: colour chaser 2010
a miniature vehicle follows the black line
photo by hitomi kai yoda

london-based product/sound designer yuri suzuki developed a new device : ‘colour chaser’.
a miniature vehicle that detects and follows a black line whilst it reads crossing coloured lines and translates this RGB data into sound.
on show at tokyo’s designtide exhibition, users could draw a randomly shaped circuit using a black marker pen on a
piece of paper
and the colour chaser followed the line.

yuri suzuki: colour chaser 2010
photo by hitomi kai yoda

users can then add different layers of colour across the black line at
intervals.
the vehicle detects the colour RGB data and translates that
into sound.

yuri suzuki: colour chaser 2010
the car then plays the newly created track like a record player thanks
to a built-in speaker

photo by hitomi kai yoda

different colours translate to different sounds.
the user
can create what suzuki calls ‘ interesting soundscapes’ through drawing different colours at
different intervals.


yuri suzuki: colour chaser 2010
oscar diaz and yuri suzuki at the designtide exhibition in tokyo
image © designboom

yuri suzuki: colour chaser 2010
image © designboom

yuri suzuki: colour chaser 2010
image © designboom


making music with colour chaser


in the venue, yuri shows designboom experiments with two different ‘sound tracks’ for the colour chaser

technical advice was given by dominic robson.
see a few earlier steps of the development here, here and here.

yuri suzuki
is a product designer and electronic musician who produces work
that explores the realms of sound through exquisitely designed pieces.
sound interjection! is playful and interactive, encouraging the viewer
to become part of the final design by creating sounds.
suzuki believes
that not enough thought has been given to noises produced by
everyday appliances, and began to include
sound-scapes in his
products. yuri suzuki was born in tokyo in 1980. between 1999 and 2005
he worked
for japanese design firm
maywa denki, where he developed a strong
interest in music and technology. in 2005 he moved to london to study at
the royal college
of art. during this time he worked on some projects
for yamaha and moritz waldemeyer, and after his graduation in 2008 he
opened
his own studio.