West Seattle local Fritz Rud pairs salvaged vintage equipment with his own custom woodworking to create sculptural objects for listening to music on your phone. They sound alarmingly good – better than a lot of bluetooth speakers on the market – and look even better. The horns come from a variety of vintage speaker cabinets, gramophones, and other curios.
We caught up with Fritz to hear his thoughts on process and inspiration:
How would you describe what you make?
Custom passive amplification for hand-held devices.
Can you tell us about your favorite piece in the current collection?
Swinger! It just came together nicely, looks great on the wall and sounds great.
If you could collaborate with anyone (living or not), who would it be and why?
Chuck Close. I used to be a photo real illustrator back in the airbrush days and never attained his level of competency. Now, how he has evolved his style out of necessity is simply awe-inspiring. I also really like Kehinde Wiley, his recent show at SAM really inspired me.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Advice (good and bad) is everywhere, and I’ve received so much.
Can you describe your favorite part of the process in your work?
I love finishing the hardwoods and of course when I join the horn to it’s base gives me a great sense of completion.
When you are in the studio, what are you listening to?
There’s such a great crop of female singer-songwriter out right now. Aimee Mann & Neko Case of course, Jenny Lewis, Ingrid Michaelson, Kate Earl, A Fine Frenzy and Lucius (most amazing harmonizing duo since Indigo Girls) are all floating my boat lately. Plus they tend to sound really good through my AmpliPhones!
What is your most treasured handmade possession?
It’s not something I made. I don’t have kids but all of my nieces and nephews gave me a walking stick with their names all engraved in it. Our house was robbed several years ago and the thieves broke the walking stick into a bunch of pieces, but I glued them all back together and still display it proudly.
UPDATE JULY 13, 2017:
New pieces arriving today!
