Voice Gems, The Most Exclusive And Beautiful Vocal Stones

Harry Yeff and Trung Bao’s gems created from the vibrations of voice recordings


A voice to shape a gem. This is how the artworks of Harry Yeff, better known as Reps100, the London-based beatboxer, creative technologist and clearly a vocal experimentalist, are generated. 
Yes, because with his Voice Gems project, he succeeds in translating voices into physical objects, or rather precious stones. Indeed, a person's voice recording takes on the totally irregular form of beautiful colored gems with the most varied contours, all thanks to years of research carried out with Vietnamese artist Trung Bao. With this feature, which is able to create a vocal imprint, and a 3D printer, a uniquely shaped stone can be produced by transforming more than 200,000 mineral particles. Vibrations, tone, intensity, volume and resonance define the design of the works. Voice Gems is a project that aims to become the world's leading vocal archive, capturing moments and expressions to generate precious digital objects and beautiful physical sculptures.
Data and voice recordings are able to create the structure and colors of the stones in real time and, once they have taken shape and color, each gemstone is then recorded and catalogued. The works exist as NFTs, 3D prints, digital videos, projections and sculptures. It was 2019 when the first of these gems became voice and form. Harry Yeff was approached during an exhibition in New York by someone who wanted one of these unique gems, created by the mingled laughter of the two lovers, instead of a classic engagement ring.
So far, Voice Gems has generated gemstones comprising the most varied and unique voices, from the first cries of a new-born baby to the vocal memories of those who are no longer with us: digital works, physical sculptures or projections as large as a building.
The creations of this vocal duo were presented in 2021 at Art Basel, at the König Galerie in Berlin, at the Francisco Carolinum Museum in Linz and we will also find eight gems on display at the next World Economic Forum.  And since space no longer knows any boundaries, Yeff and Bao have created the Voice Gems meta-museum to give everyone the chance to admire the pieces created so far. 
At the moment, each gem is linked to the human and intimate dimension of the individuals who have lent their voices. However, in future, the project does not exclude listening to voices generated by artificial intelligence or by animal sounds, particularly those at risk of extinction.

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