Cobble Enceinte Bluetooth by Eric Wu is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award de Fer in Électronique Grand Public Competition Category.

FerÉlectronique Grand Public· 2025

Cobble Enceinte Bluetooth

by Eric Wu

Client: EW Design

A' Design Award de Fer Winner in Électronique Grand Public Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #167221

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Cobble Enceinte Bluetooth

Cobble est une enceinte Bluetooth de bibliothèque dotée d'une interface interactive sur sa face supérieure. Quatre pions magnétiques peuvent être disposés selon différentes configurations sur une grille. Lorsqu'une configuration prédéfinie est complétée, l'enceinte diffuse un profil sonore enregistré, comme une boucle de sons de la nature ou de bruit blanc. Cobble fonctionne également comme une enceinte Bluetooth classique pour diffuser l'audio d'un appareil connecté. La disposition des pions évoque le jeu de go et invite à un bref moment de concentration silencieuse. Le prototype utilise un boîtier en bois, des panneaux d'acrylique sablé et des rubans lumineux à LED.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Fer

Cobble Enceinte Bluetooth est lauréat de l'A' Design Award de Fer, une reconnaissance prestigieuse décernée à de bons designs qui répondent aux exigences professionnelles et industrielles attendues de créations bien conçues. Les lauréats Fer démontrent la grande compétence, la haute spécialisation, la compréhension experte et la capacité créative de leurs créateurs. Cobble Enceinte Bluetooth est censé être une création très estimée, admirée et chérie, pratique et innovante. Ce design lauréat de l'A' Design Award de Fer intègre les meilleures pratiques de l'industrie et présente des caractéristiques techniques compétentes associées à un savoir-faire et à du talent. Cobble Enceinte Bluetooth est respecté pour sa rigueur et est conçu pour apporter des améliorations de la qualité de vie qui contribuent à faire du monde un monde meilleur.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Cobble is a speaker with an interactive interface at the top. The user has access to 4 pegs that they can place in various patterns. When preset patterns connect, the speaker plays a saved tone. The speaker is made with the concept of "inadvertent mindfulness." Studies have found that the simple action of concentrating on one's actions offer moments of respite. By placing pegs, much like how one places stones in a Go game, the user enjoys a moment of peace.
Dimensions & Packaging: 7 1/2" (width) * 7 5/16" (depth) * 2" (height)
Tags: Speaker, Office, Mindfulness, Audio, Music
Production Technology: The prototype was constructed with a wooden casing with a four-panel construction. Sand-blasted acrylic panels are used to diffuse the lighting from LED light strips. The prototype control panel was made from an Arduino nano and will be replaced with more efficient chips in mass production. We experimented with various sensing methods and settled on magnetic sensing with Hall effect sensors as they appeared to be the most reliable.
Design Challenge: The hardest part was figuring out the sweet spot of a big enough surface area and a compact enough footprint, the product being a shelf speaker after all. People wanted to engage with the interface but too much of it offered diminishing returns and research participants had more complaints of space constraints.
Research: User research was conducted in collaboration with co-working spaces. We tested hypotheses like the following:
- How much spacing and how big do people prefer the pegs to be
- How many rows and columns work the best, offering novelty and comfort without overloading the user
- What footprint works the best without sacrificing too much room for interaction
Inspiration: The design originated in a desire to question the prevalence of active mindfulness practices today. We have meditation apps, mindfulness sessions offered by corporations, and many more. While mindfulness is great, there are alternative activities that humans go to for similar purposes, without bearing the label of "mindfulness." Go, the Asian board game using stones, was a primary inspiration. What if we could have something built in that stimulates a sense of mindfulness, just like Go?
Project Duration: Duration: 6 months
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Operation Flow: The product behaves like a normal bluetooth speaker, so the user can connect to it with an end device and play whatever they want.

The unique interaction is that it can save and activate various sound profiles, which can be activated via placement of the magnetic pegs. The user would have to download a mobile app to change the default profiles, which are nature and white noise sound loops.
Team Members: Eric Wu
Image Credits: Photos: Eric Wu