Cast is a monumental new aluminium speaker shaped by industrial designer Tom Fereday and brought to life in collaboration with Tasmanian hi-fi manufacturer Pitt & Giblin. Exhibited at the designer’s current show, ‘Aver’, in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Cast sits alongside Fereday’s other recent works, including abstract lighting pieces and cast metal furniture.
The sculptural speaker is formed from marine-grade aluminium and assembled as a totem-like, top-heavy structure that contains four loudspeaker elements. Weighing in at a heft 45kg, and standing 80cm tall, Cast has a real physical presence that comes across in the mighty sound. A digital amplifier and signal processing unit is housed in the stand, with the aluminium surface left marked and scuffed to convey a sense of weight and scale.
The speaker was developed with the help of Jack Pitt and Ross Giblin, bespoke loudspeaker builders based in Hobart, Tasmania. Pitt and Giblin’s eponymous company has two decades of experience in designing and building specialist loudspeakers, all of which are handmade in their workshops.
‘Aver’, a solo installation of Fereday’s work, is a feast of materiality, with works in aluminium, solid bronze, travertine marble, cast glass and glazed lava stone. Born in Australia but brought up in London, where he also studied, Fereday set up his solo studio in 2012.
Works like the Cove chair use recycled cast aluminium in place of wood, juxtaposing the quotidian with the meticulously crafted to change the sense of an object. The Cast speaker builds on this approach, transforming sound into a physical form.
Cast speaker, AU$11,500 each, Tom Fereday, TomFereday.com, @Tom_Fereday
Pitt & Giblin, PittandGiblin.com.au, @PittandGiblin
‘Aver’, on show at Oigall Projects 122 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, 23 May to 9 June 2024, OignallProjects.com, @Oignall_Projects
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