Breaking the mold leads to top design award

A few years ago, Nolato Magasin showcased RÖtt KRÖN earbuds; a pair of wireless earbuds that looked like a piece of jewelry for the ear and combined the choice of materials, design and techno­logy to stand out in every possible way. 

The earbuds were injection-molded in ­zirconia ceramic, which had been sintered at 1,500 degrees Celsius and is one of the hardest materials imaginable, while also being biocompatible and hypoallergenic.

The choice of materials and standout design, along with opportunities to simply create ornamentation that really caught the eye, attracted considerable interest among Nolato’s customers and colleagues.

“Using innovative solutions, we were able to show that Nolato had the in-house expertise to develop and deliver original consumer electronic products that genuinely stand out from the crowd,” says Dan Wong, Managing Director of Nolato Lövepac Technology.

Raising the bar and breaking the mold

“These earbuds were still fairly conventional from an industrial/mechanical perspective,” notes Dan Wong. “They adhered to a traditional product language that we now feel isn’t enough to break the innovation boundaries and reflect our true opportunities to stand out.

“So we decided to raise the bar several notches, break the mold and come up with something completely different. And that was how ‘The RÖtt KRÖN Earring’ came about.”

The Earring is a true example of visionary future wearables. The previous model’s in-ear design has been updated to make it a more attractive piece of jewelry – an earring – rather than a traditional earbud. 

Like its predecessor, the earring features a precious-gem-class zirconia ceramic acoustic chamber. The rest of it consists of a shape-­memory titanium alloy plated with 18 carat gold, and degradable plastic that breaks down easily when the product reaches the end of its useful life. The unique combination of materials creates a product with an unusually low climate impact for a consumer electronics item.

The design has attracted a great deal of attention, and in June 2023 The Earring received one of the world’s top design awards, Germany’s Red Dot Winner Award for exceptional product design. “The award is a feather in our cap,” says Dan Wong. “Our development of The Earring has ­established yet another valuable showcase of Nolato’s wide-ranging expertise as a global and innovative end-to-end provider of sustainable solutions.”

Blurring the boundaries between fashion and technology

The judging panel said The RÖtt KRÖN Earring positions itself as a refreshing alternative to conventional earbuds. They were particularly impressed with how this wearable blurs the boundaries between fashion and technology: “It accentuates the wearer’s personal style while offering convincing acoustic performance.” The attractive, high-gloss material focuses attention on the sleek shapes of the earbuds, while the ergonomic design ensures a high level of wearing comfort. Thanks to the use of zirconia ceramic, the product is also biocompatible and hypoallergenic.