Public Funding for Future Piano Limited

FUTURE PIANO is creating the 'Standing Grand': a vertical grand piano, to tackle the space limitations of modern homes. It will be easy to move around, radically space saving and lightweight, by employing contemporary engineering and materials. Future Piano was founded by pianist Sarah Nicolls. She invented the new piano shape through her own style of playing the strings as well as the keys so this piano also makes every part of every string available to the performer, adding to the piano's palette. Future Piano was formed in 2017, to lead an Innovate-UK funded Design Foundations research phase. The team that Sarah assembled is now moving towards their first build, of the world's first ever lightweight 'Standing Grand' employing aerospace composites technology. For the Women in Innovation Award, Sarah is most looking forward to the incredible support package on offer and connecting with other female innovators and entrepreneurs. She wants to make the Future Piano Standing Grand an investable and successful project, to really radically disrupt the historical and rather safe piano industry. The Future Piano team will also be undertaking vital R&D on their first composites prototype and looking at on-shoring piano building and innovation skills not currently found in the UK. Find our more at www.futurepiano.co.uk.

This project is looking at how the piano, a historic and iconic instrument, can be made to fit more appropriately into our modern lives. It seeks to retain the acoustic grand piano with all of its richness of sound and its impressive, monumental stance, whilst also making it a lighter, slimmer, space-saving instrument. We aim to radically rethink how a piano works and looks. The team is led by Sarah Nicolls, an innovative concert pianist with over 20 years' experience, playing around the world and working with composers to create new music. The human-centred design comes from Keech Design, a leading London-based design company led by Tristram Keech, former Design Director at Conran & Partners and David Keech, who was the first non-Japanese designer to join Yamaha's creative team in Hamamatsu, prior to which he was an Associate at Foster & Partners. The technical expertise comes from Jigsaw Structures, engineers with experience in aerospace and connecting different materials successfully and innovatively, piano builder David Klavins who has himself invented several pianos, and support from the National Composites Centre SME Reach team. The project aims to shore up thinking on the basic idea, to examine how other users might need or redefine it, to look at the scope of re-design feeding in technical expertise where necessary, creating final visual and written reports and documents which can be used to create an investible business case going forward.