“WHAT WE DESIGNED
IS NOT A LOUDSPEAKER.
WHAT WE DESIGNED
WAS VIBRATING AIR.”

Zikmu is not a personal project. Henri Seydoux (founder and CEO of Parrot) is a very unusual person. As a friend who understands him deeply, I was simply able to express what he had in his head, because luckily he couldn’t draw it himself. It was a kind of osmosis.

If Henri had just asked me to design a loudspeaker, with the standard technology that produces the usual effect, I wouldn’t have been interested at all. I would have told him, «listen, it’s very kind of you but there are lots of other people who will do a better job than me». But this project offers a totally coherent approach, in terms of the result achieved, and the result for the people who will use it, and that’s what counts. This is not that we are designing, making and selling loudspeakers. What is important is what the final benefit will be for the person who will use it. In that respect, Henri and his engineers have done a remarkable job.


Parrot is at the very forefront of global technology, in particular for Bluetooth®, and to my mind that says a lot. It means that Parrot works with real subjects, such as communications and immateriality. So Parrot has a genuine aim: to allow wireless communication that is, for example, more flexible and infinitely versatile. That certainly got me interested.


The approach of Henri Seydoux and of Parrot is totally right and integrated.And as we all agreed on that, the project created itself, because we got the meaning right, and the aim, doing nothing other than the minimum needed to achieve that maximal aim.


The aim wasn’t just to make another loudspeaker. It is clear that our design produces amazing sound, but what’s more, whether you use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, whether you put your mobile phone or your MP3 player next to it, it plays music as if by magic, and that’s incredible. But, and this is what got me interested, what we designed is not a loudspeaker. What we designed was vibrating air.


These loudspeakers offer an extra dimension created by the vibration, where the air itself comes to life. You have an object, which creates this air that surrounds you on all sides, that has a presence, like a human presence, like a fragrance.

 

Parrot’s engineers have worked miracles. It’s amazing what they have managed to do in terms of the quality of the technology and sound, in such a small space. The aim of my dematerialization strategy was always to keep everything to the strictest minimum.


As for me, my job, which I believe I have done well, was to design a minimalist setting for this technology for the benefit of man. How could I have done any less? Zikmu is the simplest design possible at present. Our device is totally modern, not just because of all its technical capabilities, but also because it is as simple as possible. Its only purpose is to produce the maximum effect, with the most advanced and incredible technology, and the least amount of material. Now that is what I call magic.

Phillipe Starck