the 'oldest guitar in the world' is made from 50,000-year-old ancient kauri wood, by lorenzo palmeri

italian musician and designer lorenzo palmeri has designed the ‘oldest guitar in the world’ using ancient kauri, the most exotic wood in the world. the guitar is one of three designs that together form the ‘navel’ family, a trio whose shape combines the the typically modern silhouette of the electric guitar and traditional femininity of the instrument’s acoustic original.

the ‘navel’ shown here in fenix NTM’s nanotech material
images courtesy of lorenzo palmeri

the navel comes in three different designs. to create the limited edition in kauri wood, palmeri collaborated with furniture maker and wood specialists, riva 1920, who helped him work with the 50,000 year old material. kaouri is a non-fossil wood, preserved from the absence of oxygen generated naturally in swampy areas of eastern europe following a cataclysm whose reason is unknown.

in perfect contrast, another model uses a nanotech material known as fenix NTM, realised in collaboration with arpa indsutriale, the company behind the impressively matt material. the irregular surface topography results in a very low light reflectivity (a surface specular reflectance of 1.5 at 60°) and an anti-fingerprint, soft-touch effect. the third and final model is a classic, ‘consumer’ version which comes in classic beech wood.

sketch illustrating the design of the navel’s body and neck

in all three guitars the body formed of two contrasting messages: its roundness suggests a feminine form, typical of the classical guitar, whilst a masculine angularity gives it ‘shoulders’. together the contrasting elements speak about the characteristic of the guitar’s voice, which is capable of extending from a very sweet tone to a very hard and powerful one. this dialogue between masculine and feminine is a kind of meaning that has always been subtended in the electric guitar that is highlighted here.

sketch details of the navel guitar

‘navel started from the desire to experiment, with materials to investigate the sound values and tactile attitude a musician draws from their experience with the instrument‘, palmeri explains. ‘navel (belly button) is a reference to the centrality of the human being in design thinking.‘