Ackeem Ngwenya — Tritone's creator

We met Ackeem at the Heap59 space, which is a part of Berlin fablab. With a background in philosophy, jewelry, and industrial design, he is now developing his own brand of eyewear with a technological and social approach. Together we came up with an idea of an improved stand for our device, Tone, and as a result Ackeem produced a prototype for what later became a new device called Tritone.

What is your current project, what challenges are you experiencing now?

I am trying to launch an eyewear business aimed at providing great fitting eyewear for Black People, most of whom have wide and low nose bridges. Usually, eyewear products are designed around Caucasian nose types, which means millions of people like me wear ill-fitting sunglasses.

Debating whether to go for extreme customization or have a range of sizes and risk design exclusion.

How do you imagine the future of the material world? Please, give us a few examples that prove your point of view.

It certainly seems that the material world will be interactive or digitally augmented.

What skills would be in demand in the future?

I think the most important skill for the future is the ability to learn new skills.

What was your inspiration for the shape of Tritone?

The metronome.

Tritone is basically a color sensor that works as a MIDI interface. That means you can use it instead of MIDI keyboard or any other musical input device. The action starts when Tritone is installed on a vinyl turntable. Users can compose melodies or rhythms from scratch, using cutout color paper or cardboard. You can program up to three different layers of sounds, like drums, bass and solo. Can’t wait to see a DJ performing live with colors on stage.