The workshop
A quiet object that fills the room
How Atelier Nord makes the Stone Speaker S1, one piece at a time, and why it takes longer than it has to.
Words by Lena Kraus · Photos by Jon Ash
The Stone Speaker S1, at home.
Stone Speaker S1 looks like something you would find on a sculptor’s shelf: a soft, woven front, a body that feels cool to the touch, no blinking lights and no buttons you don’t need.
The workshop sits at the end of a gravel road, in a building that used to be a dairy. There is no sign on the door. Inside, it smells of wood oil and coffee, and the radio plays quietly while six people do one thing at a time, carefully.
Slow by design
Every piece is made in small batches. Materials are chosen by hand and left to rest before they are worked; parts are fitted, checked and fitted again. It is not the fastest way to make anything, and that is exactly the point.
We could make it faster. We just don’t want to.
Atelier Nord, founder
Look closely and you see the decisions: an edge rounded just enough to feel soft in the hand, a joint you can only find with your fingertips, a finish that will look better in ten years than it does today.
Built to stay
Switch it on and it disappears into the music. One full-range driver gives voices an almost uncanny presence, and a single cable is all it ever asks for. Group two in the living room, one in the kitchen, and the whole house plays the same song.
When a piece leaves the workshop it carries a small card, signed by the person who finished it. It is a promise, really: that it was made to be used every day, and to be repaired rather than replaced.
