This stone and wood midi controller is a gift for my pen pal Josh. We've been exchanging letters for years now, sometimes pretty regularly, sometimes fairly spaced apart. I find that receiving something like a letter, from another place, carries an extra little charge of friend-energy, and I've long appreciated the effort that it takes to get something from one place to another, in physical form.

I wanted to make something for him that he could play and manipulate, but also served as a small physical token of our friendship. I used stones that I have collected over the years, on various walks and trips and beach expeditions. I love the solidity of a good rock, and the way that they exist in their current, seemingly simple form, but yet are the result of ages of geological processes.

I think midi controllers themselves serve as an interesting communicative metaphor, translating touch into signal into whatever you please, really.

And thus, this midi controller sculpture music box is my attempt to tell my pal that I miss him, and that I hope he is doing well. For me, it's an expression of care, and I hope it brings joy and sonic pleasure to him from the other side of a large country.