Galet

An instrument grown from the landscape.

Galet is a handcrafted instrument built from wood, glass, and ceramic — materials chosen for their tactile presence as much as their acoustic properties. Its interface is a touch-slider: a surface that responds to presence as much as to pressure, making the instrument playable through proximity and intention rather than precise mechanical action.

The object takes its name from the French word for a smooth, water-worn stone — the kind found on Breton beaches, shaped over centuries by tide and friction. That process of slow refinement through contact is part of what the instrument proposes: an object that carries material memory in its surfaces before any signal flows through it.

Developed within the Absolumont collective in Reykjavik, Galet approaches the electronic instrument as a sensual object — one that exists at the intersection of craft, sound synthesis, and physical making. The wood is worked by hand. The ceramic elements are formed and fired. The electronics are designed and assembled from scratch.

---