Design Preview: Artistic Vinyl Speaker

For my main project, I’m creating a box/enclosure for a pre-made speaker that provides the same feeling as if you were listening to music through a record player. The box will be styled in the modernisme aesthetic and feature a recycled, painted record that spins on top (simulating a normal record player, but not actually using the record for audio). I hope to decorate the recycled record using the post-impressionism aesthetic.

                                                      

                           [2] Antoni Gaudí’s La Sagrada Familia                                                    [3] Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

Modernisme (also known as Catalan Art Nouveau) was a popular style from the 1880s-1910s in Spain. Key figures and people who shaped this aesthetic were Antoni Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, and Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Modernisme has strong ties to Art Nouveau, but features themes of Catalan history, culture, and art. Works based on this aesthetic incorporate organic forms, natural decoration, and vibrant colors. Figure 2 shows La Sagrada Familia, one of the most influential modernisme designs (located in Barcelona, Spain).

Post-impressionism was an art movement also originating in the 1880s. This movement was led by Paul Cézanne, with famous artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Georges Seurat illustrating its style. Similar to modernisme, post-impressionism features vibrant colors, but differs by distorting natural/realistic geometry. A well-known painting with this aesthetic is Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (figure 3).

[4] Record Player Inspiration

When brainstorming an idea for my project, I actually approached the prompt in reverse. Rather than choosing an item and applying some aesthetic to it, I already knew that I wanted to take inspiration from some of Gaudí’s and Van Gogh’s works, but hadn’t decided what to create. Coincidentally, when shopping at Goodwill, I came across a gramophone-styled phone audio amplifier. Doing a bit of research on gramophones, I wanted to see if it would be practical to create one of my own. Learning of its complexity, I was drawn to my roommate’s record player instead (figure 4). This is when I came up with the idea of creating record player-like music device, while avoiding the complexity of creating a speaker/record player from scratch. For my design, I want to have an embedded Bluetooth speaker that operates independently of a decorative rotating record on top the speaker/base structure.

     

[5] Initial Design Sketches                                [6] Casa Batlló Exterior                                                 [7] Casa Batlló Interior

Pictured above is my initial sketches of what the design could look like. For the structure of the base, I took inspiration from Gaudí’s Casa Batlló (figure 6 and 7). I wanted to incorporate the wave like pattern (based on the building exterior), and spiraled ceiling (like the building interior) Gaudí used in his architecture into my design.

                                                 

                                     [8] Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night                                                     [9] Painted Record Example

For the record itself (and maybe the base structure as well), I want to paint it either as a reproduction of Van Gogh’s Starry Night (figure 8), or a matching style with similar colors. Figure 9 shows a painted record to help visualize this aspect of the design (although the graphic itself will be different).

[10] Minimalism Design Alternative

An aesthetic alternative I explored was a minimalism design (see figure 10). However, I decided against this alternative because the modernisme and post-impressionism styles were an integral part of why I chose this project in the first place, and I also wanted to challenge myself with the design.

Based on my initial sketch, I began creating a CAD model to bring this idea to life (see figure 1, the featured image). It’s still a work in progress, and much more work will need to be done, but I’m liking how it’s coming along.

[11] Project Timeline

A rough project timeline I created to guide my schedule for the rest of the semester is pictured above. I’m satisfied with my project idea, so I’ve passed the brainstorming phase. Currently, I’m working on the largest part of the project, which is the design and materials selection phase. I plan to 3D print the structure of my design, so I’m prepared to invest a lot of time preemptively creating a Solidworks model before I fabricate and assemble the final product. As part of this phase, I also want to select what materials I’ll need. The key components I’m focused on include a motor to rotate the record, a button to turn on the motor, a potentiometer (or other component) to set the motor rotation rate, and a speaker. I want to find a speaker that’s within budget, has a low profile, and has good sound quality. I also don’t have too much experience with electronics (particularly dynamic electronics), and want to make sure what I use will perform accordingly. After finalizing my design and selecting materials, I’m going to fabricate the product by 3D printing different sections of the base (using the open access standard PLA printers at the ITLL). The bulk of the time during this phase will go towards creating a nice surface finish. I don’t want the layer lines of the 3D print to be part of the final product, so to get rid of these blemishes, I plan to sand the print and apply an automotive spray putty (which will fill the gaps between the layers and harden). This will hopefully leave me with a smooth finish. I’ll then paint the base and the record, and assemble the full design. I anticipate assembly will be the most straight forward part of this project, but allow for 10 days after fabrication to get this done in case of some need for adjustments.

         

                  [12] CAD Design Showing Corner Disconnection                                  [13] CAD Design Showing Desired Surface

The current issues I’m having in the design process involve using Solidworks surface features to get the organic geometry I desire. Since my design has organic, curved shapes rather than straight, sharp edges, I can’t use the normal extrusions and cuts I’m most familiar with. To get around this constraint, I’m using Solidworks surface features, which allow you to create outlining sketches, then fill in the face according to some geometric constraint to the surface. The first issue I’m having is making the surfaces connect flush at the edges. In the top corner of the base in figure 12, you can see that there is a small gap between the side not visible to us on the left and the top face. I’m not sure why this is an problem because, looking at the other faces, there are several other sides without that same issue. I used the same feature/technique for each face, so if something is wrong with one side, I’d expect all sides to have the same problem. The next major issue I have is that, in the current design pictured above, you can see that the top of the base has a hilly/bumpy texture, however, this does not match the initial vision I portrayed in my sketch (see figures 5). Figure 13 shows a 3D sketch I created that I had hoped I could use to fill in the top of the box (same method as the sides of the box: a surface fill), but it doesn’t create the design I hope for when I apply the constraining sketch.

Once I’ve resolved these issues, I’ll be able to move on to purchasing a speaker and motor, then adding these component’s connections into my CAD design. If anyone has experience with Solidworks (particularly its surface features) and has a suggestion on how I should go about resolving these issues or fully reapproaching the design, I’d love to hear it!

All in all, I’m very excited to be working on this project and hope that it’ll continue to take shape as I work toward a final design. I’ve encountered a couple problems, but expect that I’ll be able to overcome them, and overall finish the project in time for our final presentations.

Citations:

[2] Marina Port Vell Barcelona, 2021, https://www.marinaportvell.com/articles/barcelona-and-its-art-nouveaus-architecture-from-gaudi-to-the-palau-de-la-musica/

[3] Wikipedia, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflowers_%28Van_Gogh_series%29

[4] Photographed by me

[5] Sketched by me

[6] Valérie, 2020, https://barcelona-top-travel-tips.com/guided-tour-gaudi-modernism/

[7] Dan Blystone, 2025, https://barcelonanavigator.com/gaudi-buildings-in-barcelona/\

[8] Wikipedia, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night

[9] Bittersweet Canvas, 2025, https://bittersweetcanvas.com/products/lake-tahoe-vinyl-painting

[10] Sketched by me

[11] Created by me

[12] Designed by me

[13] Designed by me

[14] Aesthetics Wiki, N/A, https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Modernisme

[15] Aesthetics Wiki, N/A, https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Post-Impressionism