Quick Facts: Instrument: Ravenchord. Designer: Whipsaw (industrial design firm). Claim: First fundamental redesign of the grand piano in over 300 years. Shape: Asymmetric wing form, inspired by a bird in flight. Key feature: Exposed internal workings allow sound to project directly rather than being enclosed in a traditional cabinet. Status: Concept/prototype.

The grand piano has looked roughly the same since the 1700s. That’s not a failure of imagination. It’s more that the design worked, and nobody had a compelling enough reason to change it. Whipsaw had one: what if you could make it both more beautiful and more acoustically direct at the same time?

What the Ravenchord Actually Is

The Ravenchord abandons the closed cabinet of the traditional grand piano entirely. The internal mechanics are exposed, the frame opens outward into a dramatic wing-like form, and the sound is projected directly rather than being contained and shaped by a wooden body. The visual result is striking. It looks less like a piece of furniture and more like a piece of sculpture that happens to produce music.

The Design Logic

Whipsaw’s redesign isn’t purely aesthetic. The exposed string and hammer arrangement changes the acoustic relationship between player and instrument. The asymmetric wing form draws the eye along the lines of the strings themselves, making visible the engineering that traditional piano design usually hides. It’s a piece that rewards both looking and listening.

Does It Need to Exist?

The classic grand piano is a masterpiece. Nobody is arguing otherwise. But there’s something genuinely interesting about a designer asking whether form and function could be pushed further, even for an instrument that has been refined over centuries. The Ravenchord doesn’t replace the grand piano. It asks a different question about what a piano could be. That question alone is worth asking.