nemo Vertical Piano | 2021-2022

Designer: Lorenzo Palmeri, lorenzo palmeri studio, Milan (MI), Italy
Manufacturer: Zanta Pianoforti srl., Camponogara (VE), Italy

Nemo is an upright piano and a state of mind at the same time. The presence of the curved front allows an enveloping, unprecedented and powerful distribution and diffusion of sound. The curve is made to welcome the musician in an embrace that literally leads him into the intimacy of the piano. The porthole, a reference to the experience of travel, allows a glimpse into the interior of the instrument, into the fascinating and mysterious world of the mechanics that generate sound. Each key on Nemo is covered in FENIX NTM®, a material that is pleasant to the touch, anti-fingerprint, extremely opaque and with thermal repairability of surface micro-scratches. The black keys are finished by hand, one by one, each one unique, to underline the nature and artisan drive of every aspect of this piano in which the soundboard is handcrafted in Val di Fiemme with a unique iron casting, details that directly affect the quality of sound and experience of the player.

In between all the musical instruments, the piano is perhaps the one that generates one of the strongest physical and environmental relationships with the musician. Playing the piano is often a journey, like standing on the prow of a ship or piloting a spaceship. Nemo is the son of these evocations, born from the desire to generate a new intensity of the musical experience.

Innovative characters: The piano born at the beginning of the eighteenth century, stabilized in the form the designers know today around the mid-nineteenth century. Working on a piano means identifying a degree of innovation that moves in parallel with a sort of sacred respect for the evolution and history of the object.

The curved, recessed front is an invention that appears for the first time in Nemo, it allows for an enveloping sound distribution and diffusion, with the focal point on the pianist, who becomes the center of the sound emission. The curve also has a semantic function, of affordance, of welcoming the musician, a sort of embrace that literally leads him into the intimacy of the piano. The porthole, a reference to the travel experience, allows a glimpse into the inside of the instrument, into the fascinating and mysterious world of the mechanics that generate sound.

Each white key of Nemo is covered in FENIX NTM®, for the first time applied in a piano. It is an anti-fingerprint material, extremely opaque and with thermal repairability of surface micro-scratches, which triggers a new type of tactile experience, particularly soft and pleasant. The black keys are made entirely of FENIX NTM® finished by hand one by one, each one unique, slightly different from the next, to underline the nature and the artisan drive of every aspect of this piano. The soundboard is handmade in Val di Fiemme with a unique iron casting, details that directly affect the quality of sound and experience of the player.

In addition, Nemo features a fourth pedal (pianos usually have three) which introduces the idea of an acoustic rhythmic element. The pedal is in fact a percussion, which generates a new sound, adding a new voice to the piano. The work with the company also included the design of the stool and the whole communication, so much so that a new font was also created for the name Nemo.