ShapedSound events: multi-sensory experiences & calm sonic immersion
It’s been a hot minute! We’re cooling off after a summer of back-to-back events and too much news to pack into a single newsletter. Here’s a quick round up of what’s been and where to find us next.
As many of you will know, the studio has been focusing on our Sonaforms® for over a year now, so this update is mainly related to them.
In case you’re wondering what the hell a Sonaform is – they are beautiful, tactile wooden furniture that emit audio through vibration, allowing you to feel sound through your body. The forms and soundscapes are designed specifically to be calming and tell stories in new and unexpected ways. Still confused? More FAQs here!
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Sonaforms at Turner Contemporary
On a bright day in late June, three Sonaforms were installed for Neurodivergent Pride Day at Margate’s Turner Contemporary. The largest was positioned facing out to sea and contained a beautiful soundscape composed by musician Dan Scott – creating a particularly peaceful multi-sensory experience for whoever lay on it.
As a ND-led company, this event was especially meaningful to us. Feedback from attendees confirmed what we’ve known for a while: that vibration, sound and touch combined can provide vital nervous system regulation in busy environments, something we’ll be doing more research into this year with new secured government funding.
Some feedback highlights from visitors:
Like being in a little booth of your own experience.
I feel inspired, it helped me feel calmer.
I feel more peaceful
Big big thanks to the brilliant people at Neurodivergent Friends of Thanet who created such an open and inviting space to celebrate and discuss neurodiversity and what it means to the local community.
Models of Care
Julie’s artwork Models of Care was exhibited at InSpace Gallery, Edinburgh throughout August for Edinburgh Art Festival. Over 3,000 people visited the artwork, as part of the Bridging Responsible AI Divides group show Tipping Point.
The work was inspired by Julie’s field trip to Svalbard in the Arctic earlier this year, where she recorded glaciers melting with a group of glaciologists, scientists, musicians and artists. These were then mixed into her ‘Sonascape’ along with two more compositions; one composed by Norwegian musician Torben Snekkestad, whose composition glided through low rumbles and high synthetic frequencies, taking the ‘listener’ on a journey many didn’t want to step out of. The last was generated by a low and ultra-low resource AI model, trained on glacier sounds by Anna Wszeborowska.
Through working with these very low resource AI models (using very small datasets and small amounts of energy), the work questioned how AI could be used more responsibly in the creative process and asked the audience to consider the catastrophic impact huge data centres and the resulting ‘AI arms race’ is having on local communities and the environment.
Models of Care will be re-shown at the V&A South Kensington this weekend (!) 19–21 Sept for Digital Design Weekend as part of London Design Festival. We’ll be there all weekend, more info here:
When: 19, 20 and 21 September 2025, Fri: 18.30 – 22.00 |Sat & Sun: 10.00 – 17:45
Where: V&A, South Kensington, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL. Models of Care will be in the Learning Centre on Friday evening and in the V&A main entrance on Saturday and Sunday
Entry: Free
Full programme: www.vam.ac.uk/digitaldesign
Looking for a unique immersive experience for your event? We got you!
Did you know Sonaforms are available to hire? The Sonaforms have popped up at a lot of events recently, from block parties and galleries to offices and brand experiences. One of our highlights was being part of Dulux’s Colour of the Year Award immersive event. Three gorgeous blues inspired the installations, which involved dry ice and projected visuals (and a bit of line dancing!). 💙
Get in touch if you’d like to learn how Sonaforms can amplify your event – we’d be happy to answer any questions studio@shapedsound.com
Upcoming
We’ll also be sharing Sonaforms at Worktech25 in London this November. If you’re in the workplace wellbeing or HR sectors - get in touch, we have a few discounted tickets for VIPs!
Finally
Grace Attlee has been working with us for 18 months and is now our Studio Director. She’s the best, and you’ll be hearing more from her as we continue to grow our tiny team.
Looking forward to catching you soon,
Julie, Grace + Velcro
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www.shapedsound.com <- NEW!
To being less of a stranger, but never less strange.
With love, Julie
Follow me on instagram, I’m trying to up my numbers yeh. Or LinkedIn. Or both.
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