Design Map · Eindhoven
Press to Play
Graduation project by Hyacinthe Pairault at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
A soft, responsive surface invites to explore sound through touch. 'Press to Play' is an instrument which reacts with shifting tones while its shape gently moves along with the player. Behind the instrument's interactive canvas an infrared camera and sensor measure pressure and depth. This triggers three sound elements to each respond with their own unique musical logic. Instead of asking for technique, the instrument encourages simple, curious gestures that feel like play rather than performance.
As a child Hyacinthe Gabriel Victor Pairault spent more time exploring games like Minecraft than practising instruments. These games teach you their systems simply by letting you move through their worlds, try things out and learn by doing. When it comes to instruments, that process is reversed: learning comes first, play comes later. Born from that frustration, this project became a personal experiment in creating an instrument that follows the logic of a game: you discover how it works by interacting with it.