Sound and feeling are one and the same for Thomas Heatherwick. His design practice mirrors this philosophy, creating complex structures that focus on the auditory aspects of spatial experience.

In design, the addition of sound can be as powerful as its subtraction. Its power to play across senses other than sight, according to British writer and broadcaster Deyan Sudjic, is what distinguishes the ‘good’ from the ‘best’.

As co-founders of design and architecture studio Sybarite, Simon Mitchell and Torquil McIntosh work wonderfully in tandem. Yet, the music driving their creativity differs like night and day.

Morag Myerscough’s work is bright, bold and unapologetically fun. Her recent Hong Kong installation, titled “Make Those Who Are Near Happy”, is all that and more, but more importantly, it incorporates sound in the most creative of ways.

Industrial designer Paul Priestman draws his remarkable inspirations from sound that moves us. The chairman of London-based PriestmanGoode studio designs for the city and culture by thinking ahead on what the future from aircrafts to hotels would be like.

We meet Ulrich Gerhartz to discuss a machine with more parts than a car, one that easily can live well beyond a hundred years and be as spectacularly precise as the day it was put together (with adequate repair, of course): none other than the piano. Gerhartz is a piano maker, and director of the concert department, for Steinway & Sons.

We meet Craig and Rebecca Struthers, husband and wife at the helm of Struthers Watchmakers. Creating new watches and repairing others that at times are centuries old, the duo is responsible for helping us manage one of our most precious resources: time. The tick of a watch, says Rebecca, is like a heartbeat. 

We meet Alexander Roden, workshop manager at Yard-O-Led, makers of sterling silver pens and pencils for nearly 200 years. From their studio in Birmingham’s jewellery district, the writing instruments they create are second to none – and have no trouble finding loyal customers across the globe. 

For designer Alexandra Llewellyn, working life is all fun and games. That’s because the niche she’s found for herself is in making exquisite backgammon boards and poker sets. Inspired by visits to Cairo, and joy and clamour of street-side backgammon playing, the games she makes today explore materiality – using not just woods, but leathers, metals, glass and stones – transforming the experience of playing these popular games.

Designer James Shaw not only creates objects and furniture, he creates the material they’re made from. His best-known works are made of extruded post-consumer plastics: ostensibly saved from a destiny of centuries in a landfill, the plastic is dyed with pigments, and shaped into playfully weird but hard-working, functional pieces.

We meet artist Yinka Ilori, whose playfully bright style has been applied to everything from chairs, to playgrounds, to public infrastructure. Drawing from his Nigerian heritage, his work is inspired from music by the likes of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey.

We meet metalsmith Adi Toch, whose mainly silver and copper vessels sit somewhere between a domestic object and artwork, they often create or even interact with sounds in charming, playful ways.

Rolls-Royce has a signature brand sound: silence. But, a very particular silence. We meet Dave Monks, engineer, who uses some unexpected sounds to fine-tune the experience behind the wheel.