In central London there is a street full of shops that sell guitars. I often walk down that street to marvel at the beauty and craftsmanship involved in creating those instruments. What pleasure would it give to own a collection of the best ones to touch and admire at will? To form such a collection without playing them, I am a terrible musician, would be a travesty, and a fraudulent thing to do! But if there would be a single exception to my self imposed rule it might be for this guitar; the Model
Ô created by Jean–Sebastian Poncet for Imago Guitars.
The inspiration for the design comes from a simple peasant lifestyle where the landscape, tools, work and things produced are somehow in harmony even where that means economic poverty. As the creator says for him, 'poverty is poetry'. For architects that might translate as, 'less is more' I speculate.
Technically the guitar – or is it a banjo, works as a turned bowl to create the soundbox, with a conductor neck across the body taking the string pressure. The moulded wood ring around the body forms a handle. The piece is made from local wood from Saint-Etienne, and is simply finished with oil. It is a prototype for now, but we are told there will be other variations later in the year or the next.
