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Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who don't like to make waves - or enemies. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. “So we decided to launch Mute Felt, sound-absorbing felt panels for the walls and ceiling, which are lighter and more cost-effective than pictures.The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. “The indoor acoustic problems here are too big to solve with Mute Pictures alone,” says Raun. The product range has also extended to embrace more solutions for residential and commercial spaces. Raun says her clientele thus far has been a mix of “boardroom and dining room”, but the demand for noise solutions has led to her recruiting three employees, with another two expected to join the company later this year. Canvases are easily replaceable if owners wish to update. The acoustic canvas prints come from a local supplier and any image can be used, such as personal photos for home or branding in the case of corporate clients. Mute Pictures are made in Dubai, with frames produced in-house in Jebel Ali. “For picture products, we have created a collection of simple images that can be printed on the canvas, and we thought it would be a great idea to support local artists and photographers.” “We believe that acoustics and aesthetics go hand in hand,” says Raun.
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#QUOTE INTO THE WAVES WINDOWS#
Traffic noise or construction noise coming through windows or doors is a problem for many in the UAE Buyers can customise their own images or choose from a catalogue, which also gives UAE photographers a fresh outlet for their work. The canvases of her Mute Pictures creations are "acoustic transparent", allowing sound waves to reach an acoustic core that absorbs and turns them into micro vibrations.
#QUOTE INTO THE WAVES FULL#
“Instead, it was the people on the other side of the screen during the Zoom or Teams meeting who complained sound was bad and full of echo or reverb, which severely degraded speech intelligibility.” “Often it was not the client who experienced the problem directly,” she says. When Raun's full-time job succumbed to the crisis, she opted to focus on Mute, to help more people solve their noisy home issues.
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Courtesy MuteĪs the pandemic pushed more people towards working from home, the demand for better domestic office spaces also increased. Mute Picture canvases installed in the dining room of a home in Sustainable City to help absorb excess sound. Noise solutions for those working from home When visitors began appreciating this practical art, Raun decided to launch her first solo business last May. “They hang there on the wall, beautiful canvas prints, but absorb all sound waves hitting their surface.” Raun, whose background is industrial design, worked with local suppliers to create “acoustic pictures” featuring photos of her young children, which absorb excess sound on the stairwell while contributing to, rather than compromising, the decor of her Arabian Ranches villa. After a few prototypes, she devised an arty solution that has since evolved into a business aptly named Mute: acoustics, and makes artworks that absorb sounds. So Raun, 36, drew on inspiration and guidance from her home country, where most accommodation incorporates acoustic ceilings or walls.
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"However, our house was not built with acoustics in mind every single sound would bounce around and take for ever to disappear … it made me feel uncomfortable and tired somehow." "Being Scandinavian, I love minimal interior design with little but well-picked furniture and only a few textiles," says the mother-of-two from Denmark. That's literally the premise of Lotte Raun's company that creates, among other products, sound-absorbing artworks. It all started when Raun and her family shifted into a villa in Dubai, a move she hoped would reduce what she calls "the invisible problem" of echo in her stairwell. Great art possesses the power to silence a room.
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