Stunning Yamaha YEV Electric Violin Earns Top Prize in 2017 International German iF Design Competition

Stunning Yamaha YEV Electric Violin Earns Top Prize in 2017 International German iF Design Competition

 

 

BUENA PARK, Calif. (March 24, 2017) – Building on a chorus of industry accolades, Yamaha has received its first Gold iF Award, the highest award in the prestigious German iF Design Award competition, for the company's YEV Electric Violin.

A 58-member jury, made up of independent, international experts met in January to select only 75 winners out of a total of 5,575 product submissions from 59 countries. These select award recipients were honored on March 10 for their outstanding design achievements at the BMW Welt in Munich. The coveted trophy was presented to Yamaha by Ralph Wiegmann, CEO of iF, considered to be the premier arbiter of international design excellence since its founding in 1953. More than 2,000 guests from 40 countries attended the celebration.

With the YEV, Yamaha set out to introduce an entirely new kind of electric violin – one that evokes traditional woodcraft, shaped with modern, elegant lines.

The judges admired the YEV's "beautiful silhouette with skillfully applied wood details" and noted that this next-generation violin takes design reduction to its logical conclusion. "By removing as much material as functionally possible, Yamaha maintains the identifying shape of a violin while eliminating the rest," the judges noted. "The YEV electric violin is an exquisite musical instrument that is as pleasing to the eye as it is to play and listen to."

In 2016, the YEV Series also garnered NAMM's "Best in Show" and the 2016 Japanese "Good Design" award out of a field of more than 4,000 entries. Music and Sound Retailer magazine recently dubbed the instrument the "Best Band & Orchestra Product" of 2016.

"Winning the iF Gold Award is an historic moment for Yamaha, as well as for the entire violin world," notes Ken Dattmore, marketing manager, strings, Yamaha Corporation of America. "This string of international design recognition truly validates the enthusiasm and success surrounding this stunning new instrument, which is unlike no other. It's gratifying that it is being recognized as a timeless piece of design – one that our dealers can offer as a beautiful, yet affordable instrument to their customers."

"We strove for an instrument that could express a freer range of sound that includes classical but also bridges genres, from jazz to rock music," says designer Keizo Tatsumi of the Yamaha Design Laboratory. "While the instrument's resonating body has been eliminated, it still offers great features suited to performers on stage and explores new territory for the violin."

For more information about the Yamaha YEV Electric Violin, please visit http://4wrd.it/YEV