Kōen
Client
Kanade Audio
Year
2026
Role
3D visualization, art direction, launch film
Discipline
3D
Product visualization and launch film stills for a hand-thrown ceramic speaker from a small Kyoto audio studio, rendered to feel as calm as it sounds.
01 — Context
Kanade Audio is a two-person studio in Kyoto that builds speakers by hand. Kōen, its first product for a wider market, is a single full-range driver inside a ceramic body thrown by a potter in Shigaraki.
Every unit is slightly different, and only three prototypes existed when the launch date was set. A photo shoot wasn’t an option, so we went fully CG.
02 — Challenge
Ceramic is hard to fake. Clay has depth, tiny pinholes and a matte glaze that catches light unevenly. A render that looks too perfect reads as plastic straight away.
The studio also wanted to explain what’s inside without turning a calm object into a gadget. The technical story had to feel as quiet as the product.
03 — Process
We scanned a prototype with photogrammetry, rebuilt it clean in Blender and layered the glaze from macro photos of real test tiles. Lighting was modeled on a north-facing room at 3 p.m.: one large soft source, long shadows, nothing blown out.
For the exploded view we sat with the studio’s engineer and ordered every part as it’s actually assembled, from the cork foot to the front grille. Then we slowed the animation down so the film breathes between each step.
04 — Solution
The launch kit is twelve stills and a ninety-second film. Hero renders sit on stone and paper. The exploded view floats each part in assembly order. A final scene places Kōen on a cedar shelf in a quiet room, where it belongs.
The palette is clay white, charcoal and a trace of moss green taken from the glaze itself. The same scene files feed the product page, the press kit and a 3D viewer on the studio’s site.
05 — Outcome
The first batch of 200 speakers sold out in nine days, mostly abroad. Two design magazines ran the renders thinking they were photographs, which we took as a compliment.
In numbers
200
Units in the first batch
9
Days to sell out
12
Stills from one scene file
Credits
3D & art direction
Mara Ellis
Product design
Kanade Audio
Film score
Kenji Arai