Cobble Coluna Bluetooth by Eric Wu is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award de Ferro in Design de Dispositivos Digitais e Eletrónicos Competition Category.

FerroEletrónica de Consumo· 2025

Cobble Coluna Bluetooth

by Eric Wu

Client: EW Design

A' Design Award de Ferro Winner in Eletrónica de Consumo 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 Coluna Bluetooth

Cobble é uma coluna Bluetooth de estante com uma interface interativa na superfície superior. Quatro pinos magnéticos podem ser colocados em diferentes padrões sobre uma grelha. Quando um padrão predefinido é concluído, a coluna reproduz um perfil sonoro guardado, como um ciclo de sons da natureza ou de ruído branco. Cobble funciona igualmente como uma coluna Bluetooth convencional para áudio proveniente de um dispositivo ligado. A colocação dos pinos evoca o jogo de tabuleiro Go e convida a um breve momento de concentração silenciosa. O protótipo utiliza uma caixa em madeira, painéis de acrílico jateados a areia e fitas de luz LED.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Ferro

Cobble Coluna Bluetooth conquistou o A' Design Award de Ferro, um reconhecimento prestigiado atribuído a bons designs que cumprem os requisitos profissionais e industriais esperados de criações bem concebidas. Os vencedores do Ferro demonstram grande habilidade, elevada especialização, compreensão especializada e capacidade criativa dos seus criadores. Espera-se que Cobble Coluna Bluetooth seja uma criação muito considerada, admirada e estimada, prática e inovadora. Este design vencedor do A' Design Award de Ferro integra as melhores práticas do setor e tem características técnicas competentes associadas a conhecimento especializado e talento. Pela sua minúcia, Cobble Coluna Bluetooth merece respeito e destina-se a proporcionar melhorias na qualidade de vida que ajudam a tornar o mundo num lugar melhor.

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