acousticpearls: perceptions of space

Along with vision, auditory perception is one of the most important human sensory channels. Because hearing plays a key role in our response to the spaces we live and work in, it is decisive to our sense of well-being. Thus it is all the more critical that these spaces not only appeal to the eye, but also have good acoustics.

Seven years ago, acousticpearls recognised the relevance of this frequently neglected topic as well as the possibilities of “designing the feel of a space”. In addition to high-quality products, the Bremen company offers the well-founded knowledge of spatial experts, or rather spatial enthusiasts: “We’re driven by the chance to invent new places and create spaces that excite, inspire and move us. The spaces we inhabit should give us a positive feeling. They should fit us. Like a made-to-measure suit that clothes us with natural ease and lets us move with confidence.”

The idea for acousticpearls arose from its founding partners’ awareness of a particular market niche and their ability to fill it. In their previous design firm, gestalttransfer, Nina Wolf, an academically trained colour expert, and Lars Lüthje, an interior and lighting designer, developed colour and wall design concepts for architects, and were continually confronted with the subject of acoustics. They quickly realised that this crucial aspect of design received too little attention, but could be perfectly addressed with the competencies that they offered. This led to the 2009 launch of acousticpearls, where spatial acoustics are integrated in the interior design process and colour and lighting design goes hand in hand with technical acoustic planning.

From the beginning, the subject of colour figured prominently in the firm’s spatial design work, due in part to the company’s origins: made up of trained designers, acousticpearls possesses the skills to develop nuanced colour concepts which counteract the dreariness that often dominates office space. With its very first product, the series COLOR FIELDS, acousticpearls demonstrated how technical and design knowledge can be combined. The modular system of textile panels merges spatial acoustics and colour design, thus appealing to both senses, hearing and vision.

It is this approach that sets the acousticpearls team apart. The designers and interior architects see their purpose not only in manufacturing good products, but also in their close attention to the users and their wishes, and in quality spatial design. “Beyond the product itself, space is our true passion – we bring the two together,” Lars Lüthje says. The company places great emphasis on its exchange with architects and customers. This results in tailor-made solutions and successful collaborations with architectural firms like Sauerbruch Hutton, gmp Architekten and schneider+schumacher.

In addition to variously dimensioned wall panels, acousticpearls also offers space-defining products. With the current trend towards open-plan offices, there is high demand for such structures, and hence also for the expertise of the team’s interior designers. For example, along with acoustic optimisation, the ARCHITECTS acoustic panel system affords different ways of flexibly structuring space. The ARCHITECTS GLASS series creates an acoustic barrier by means of frameless, elegant glass panels that provide for visual zoning as well as maximum light penetration. In keeping with Lars Lüthje’s view that acoustics always includes a visual dimension, both products give rise to a play of transparency and intimacy. The latest member of the product family is FIBER CEILING, the company’s first ceiling solution, which is combined with innovative lighting technology from Buschfeld.

In its choice of materials, acousticpearls relies on holistic, Greenguard-certified quality and strong cooperation partners such as the Swiss textile company Création Baumann, of which it has been a part since its takeover in January 2016. With this new partner at their side, the acousticpearls designers have their sights set on the international market. For it, too, they want to conceive tailor-made spaces that convey a good feeling, both acoustically and visually.

© Architonic