What Happens When Former Bertone, Mercedes And GM Designers Take On The Piano? This Exxeo, A Hybrid Piano Disrupting Classic Codes

The Exxeo is a musical instrument designed to disrupt the traditional piano world. This hybrid piano conceptually and materially borrows from vehicle design to break away from the conventional piano form. The sculptural shape is supported by advanced carbon fiber material, while the technology applies the latest sustainable power with a dedicated built-in battery. There is plenty of hand-stitched leather elements too, to evoke the spirit of the motor car.

“A hybrid piano combines electronic, mechanical and/or acoustical aspects of both acoustic and digital pianos, in order to improve or expand the capabilities of the resulting instrument,” explains the brainchild of Exxeo, Iman Maghsoudi, from his studio iMAN Design in Los Angeles. “Our goal was to create a fully customizable piano that fits seamlessly into our modern lifestyles - to design a musical instrument that extends its function to a three-dimensional sculpture to be in perfect harmony with its surroundings in the contemporary interior space.”

The project began a couple of years ago, born from the frustration that digital piano design hasn’t revolutionized in the way of other industrial products. The team behind Exxeo felt that the current piano form is limited and can look constrained within certain interiors, plus the instrument is too static for our increasingly mobile lifestyles.

Maghsoudi is a transportation, interior and product designer by trade. For the project, he gathered a team of creatives and experts from the auto world to include Samuel Chuffart, a former chief designer at the Italian studio Stile Bertone, Andre Frey from Mercedes-Benz and Cedric D’Andre from General Motors. They were joined by color and trim specialist Mina Eshghipour and piano expert Pierre Julia.

They began by refining the overall shape – which essentially takes on the abstract form of sound waves for a fluid geometric sculpture. Creating this complex volume required the manipulation of advanced materials so the piano is made of carbon fiber composite instead of resonant wood, offering multiple advantages. Not only is carbon a light and rigid material, it helps the piano be more resistant to environmental influences such as moisture so it can work well in spaces exposed to high humidity - oceanside villas, yachts, cruise ships. Then, the material characteristics allow the sound to be sustained for a longer period, for a richer and stronger overtone.

The next step was to form partnerships with music experts to ensure they achieve the optimum sound quality. With over 30 years of experience in the piano industry, Exxeo sound engineer Julia worked closely with the Japanese musical instrument specialist Kawai and audio manufacturer Onkyo in developing the piano and its sound system.

The Exxeo utilizes much of the technology from Kawai’s CA-98, the main piano voicing the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX and one of the world’s most advanced grand pianos. It uses the firm's Harmonic Imaging XL and SK-EX Rendering engines to produce a wide range of additional voices. The keyboard is Kawai’s Grand Feel II, with weighted wooden keys and triple sensor key detection. Onkyo helped design the instrument’s powerful amplification and speaker system, which delivers 200-watts of power to a nine-speaker array. “Our piano has been tested and approved by Emmy Award-winning musicians in LA,” says Maghsoudi, noting that for legal reasons he cannot disclose any names.

Sound, of course, is essential, but Exxeo also needed to be a mobile instrument so a dedicated built-in battery is mounted in the tail section. Even if unplugged, the high-capacity power unit enables the instrument to perform for up to 20 hours on a single charge. Maghsoudi says his patent-pending battery and power unit system takes only three hours to charge.

I’m interested to know how the team’s collective background in vehicle design impacted on the Exxeo form and function. First there is the dynamic shape - a complex sculpture benefiting from the skills of car designers who tend to create the most advanced geometries. Then there is the carbon element, a highly technological material borrowed from the auto world, contrasting with the tactile hand-stitched leather on the instrument’s fascia and on surfaces within reach of the pianist. “The leather is of the finest quality, entirely hand crafted and stitched just like what you would expect from a Bentley or Rolls-Royce,” offers Maghsoudi.

He highlights the detailing, such as the three-dimensional parametric diamond patterns on the sides of the piano, which are evident in some of the latest futuristic concept cars, namely the BMW Vision Next 100. He sees the piano as a homage to the Golden Age of car design noting two masters of their trade, Bertone’s Marcello Gandini and Franco Sbarro of Mercedes-Benz. Similarly, the Exxeo team have set out to combine German rationalism and Italian flair with this piano.

Only 88 Exxeos are planned, customized to be unique to the user. On average it takes about six months to make each piano from scratch with the team encouraging customers to get involved and make their piano a unique work of art with first deliveries expected in late September this year. 

Having not personally experienced the piano at play, I ask the maker why he feels confident about the product. “It sounds and feels like a grand concert piano, has the latest tech features, requires zero tuning or maintenance and is a fantastic complimentary item to the overall design of its environment.” Maghsoudi is clearly passionate about disrupting the industry noting that traditional pianos and grand pianos are mostly made of wood which limits design. “Wood lets you create a bunch of flat parts and two-dimensional extruded shapes; no matter how you assemble them, it is still a static geometry.” He does admit that artists have made exciting pianos, yet their extreme prices means these remain one-off pieces.

He continues, “Digital and hybrid pianos don't have the limitations of classic acoustic pianos. They are different. Yet design-wise they are still following the same pattern, which makes them look like a caricature of classic grand pianos.”  The approach reminds him of early electric cars with added conventional grilles that had no real functional value but existed for the fear of letting go of the past. “Now electric cars are establishing their own styling cues and embracing a new and different identity. Pianos? Not even close. A modern high-tech hybrid piano doesn't have to mimic the looks of an acoustic piano. Is the piano industry going to change that? Not if we designers don't push them out of their comfort zone.”

Chuffart, the former Bertone designer, interjects: “A grand piano seduces us with its minimalist and elegant approach - it is essentially a rectangular box which has been elegantly carved out with just one beautiful French curve. The Exxeo is a more modern rectangle - massive yet rounded - that seemingly carves out its volume by twisting itself from vertical to horizontal. It stands proud as a powerful object yet turns towards the musician as a tamed instrument.” He feels confident that the shape echoes “in the most respectful way” the traditional grand piano design.