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These Bivalvia boutique toy synths are a work of art

More than just a toy...

It’s fair to say we’re in a golden age of new tech and synths, but that doesn't stop the main players trying to recreate the fevered excitement of the original machines in the 80s.

What we’ve yet to see, though, is a synth producer focussing on synths as works of art.

Until now, step forth Love Hultén, a Swedish craftsman who takes the gubbins of an open source synthesizer and then “creates attractive alternatives to contemporary appliances”.

His latest is a synthesizer that’s been housed inside of a tiny wooden box featuring a clamshell casing, built-in speakers, a typewriter keyboard and some patch-shifting buttons.

The whole collection is just adorable and features an Axolotl open-source synth engine created by Johannes Taelman featuring software to customise the synth’s patches.

Hulten only really makes these beautiful devices as commissions and the ones on show in the video below are currently not for sale.