Even while braving the most experimental, niche corners of the Consumer Electronics Show floors nearly every year well over the span of a decade, I can only recollect a handful of moments when any contraption stopped me dead in my tracks and compelled a turn heel to ask, “What is this?!” That’s the sort of response the work of audiovisual artist and woodworker Love Hultén compels on the regular when he posts new designs from from his design studio in Gothenburg, Sweden. His Doodlestation embodies the notion, you don’t necessarily need to know what something does to know it’s darn cool.
By all appearances – lime green case, wood cabinetry, polka-dotted assemblage of dials, Kit-Kat length of pastel-hued keys, and tangle of multi-colored cords – the Doodlestation looks like a contraption straight out of an episode of Space: 1999. But it isn’t merely a set piece, but a working all in one sequential OB-6 module, Moog DFAM, Hologram Microcosm, Theremin setup, custom MIDI visualizer, Tape Echo, and custom keyboard meant to be played.
The entire setup is accompanied by an animated blue-haired cartoon character inhabiting the circular display, animated in real-time to react to whatever is being played upon the keyboard – a delightful detail.
Like everything Love Hultén does, the Doodlestation is a custom made-to-order creation. So get saving.
