The Roland Digital Piano Design competition was launched in 2015, challenging designers all over the world to imagine a brand new digital piano concept. They received 128 entries, and recently announced five Incentive Award winners, an Excellence Award, and a Grand Prize.
The winner of the Grand Prize was the "Facet Grand Piano" courtesy of Jong Chan Kim — a student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Kim says, "In my initial design concepts, I focused on how to translate an iconic grand piano's design to a piano of the future. I was thinking through many different perspectives of the piano. Then I decided that putting a speaker at the bottom of the piano would allow me to maintain the design essence of the piano while also enabling me to give it a futuristic look."
Roland CEO Jun-Ichi Miki says, "We received many superb works and new concepts from all over the world, and we are extremely impressed with the results. The response to these awards has made us recognize once again just how much interest and passion there is for the piano in 2016. From here, we will keep pushing to develop the ultimate concert grand piano, an instrument that offers appearance and expression in perfect harmony."
See the collection of award-winning designs on Roland's website.
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