Una Corda Piano: A Symphony of Innovation and Design

Davids Klavins' Award-Winning Design Breaks Traditional Piano Boundaries

The inspiration behind the Una Corda Piano was born out of a growing demand for a softer sounding piano. Klavins, in his quest to meet this demand, decided to strip the piano of all unnecessary features, invent a new, softer soundboard, and build a piano strictly adhering to the principle of "form follows function". The result was the one-string-per-note Una Corda Piano, a design that stands out for its open structure, stainless steel frame, and double-layer soundboard.

Unlike traditional pianos that are boxed within a furniture casing, the Una Corda Piano is an open design, allowing its sound to travel freely. The piano is completely hand-crafted, utilizing industry-manufactured parts only for the action. The Una Corda Piano is essentially a "green" product, with no chemicals used in its production, further emphasizing its unique appeal.

The Una Corda Piano is played like traditional pianos, but its open design allows the player to follow the mechanical process of each note pressed. The sound character differs from any other existing piano by means of softness and clarity of tone, because of the one-string-per-note principle, the specific soundboard design, and the specific hammer felt. The action is modified to play faster than typical upright piano actions allow for.

The project was started in February 2014 in Balingen, Germany, and basically finished by May 2015 in Germany, though it was finally completed in every detail only in December 2020 in Kuldiga, Latvia. A major challenge was to define the most suitable material for the main frame of the Una Corda. After thorough research of alternative materials like steel and aluminum, stainless steel showed most suitable, to pick up the string tension that sums up to 49 kN.

The Una Corda Piano design was awarded Silver in A' Musical Instruments Design Award in 2021. This prestigious award is rewarded to top-of-the-line, creative, and professionally remarkable designs that illustrate outstanding expertise and innovation. These designs, admired for their strong technical characteristics and splendid artistic skill, showcase a remarkable level of excellence and introduce positive feelings, amazement, and wonder.