A few days ago I had a very interesting meeting with a Professor of design at the city campus of Uni (university) SA in Adelaide. The main topic hinged around industrial design and the projects the students focused on. Interestingly all of their work was targeted at medical, defence, age care sectors etc. rather than a luxury lifestyle. This surprised me because I feel Australia hasn’t really exploited this market at all. Certainly, with a decline in manufacturing and a non-existent automobile industry there need to be a whole new mindset. Fortunately, a few artisans are striving to rectify this by creating some innovative products. A great example can be found in Lee Gray who is the CEO of exclusive brand Kyron Audio.
Even though I have been featuring some exclusive audio on Total Design Reviews, Kyron Audio was not a brand that was familiar. This prompted me to contact the company so I could find out what makes their products so special. Interesting the Kyron’s founders (Lee Gray and Leon Suter) met whilst they were working as musicians for the Royal Australian Air Force. Their combined passion for professional music inspired them to establish the business, which is going from strength to strength.
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Lee Gray for a coffee and a chat about industrial design in general. Very kindly Lee invited me to his home for a private acoustic performance from English singer/songwriter Sam Brookes. The set was absolutely flawless and Sam’s voice is pitch perfect. After the hour long session selected were invited (in small batches) to listen to Sam’s Brookes latest album through Kyron’s phenomenal Krono’s speaker. This was an encounter I won’t forget in a hurry and I have never experienced such clarity of sound before.
Presently Kyron has 4 different ranges (Phoenix, Kronos, Mercury, Gaia) which all display a huge amount of design merit. My personal favourite is the award-winning Kronos speaker (2015 Loudspeaker of the Year over $20,000), which is influenced by Sci-Fi dramas. As a designer can appreciate this genre offers a huge pool of resources. You just have to watch films like the ‘Incredible’s’ and the new series of Thunderbirds to find inspiration. As well as it’s perfectly sculpted façade (which is customisable) the Kronos is also a brilliantly engineered. Therefore, you can sit back relax and listen to the finest audio quality possible.
