Electronics Audio and Gardens

My first love was electronics.

After school, I’d sometimes convince my mum to take me to Dick Smith Electronics to pick up another kit I could build—so uncool! I studied electronics for a while and drifted into audio and music—another big interest— but for whatever reason, unfortunately or maybe fortunately, I never quite turned it into a career.

At the same time, I’ve always loved being outside. Working with plants, building things, creating, designing spaces and objects—those things felt natural. That’s where I’ve ended up spending most of my time and energy ever since.

Sometimes I wonder if that early experience with electronics gives me a different perspective on gardens and landscapes. When you’re used to working at such a small scale—soldering tiny components and building delicate circuits—you develop a sensitivity to detail and flow. That way of thinking carries over, even when the scale is much larger. You start seeing spaces as systems, where every element matters and everything is connected. Every millimetre counts.

Lately, I’ve been thinking more seriously about how to bring all of those threads together: electronics, sound, and gardens. The idea is to create something like an organic instrument or sculpture—something that reacts to its surroundings. Maybe it responds to bird calls, or changes in light or movement. But it should be subtle, not attention-seeking. It’s not about novelty or cleverness. It’s about enhancing a place, not dominating it.

I’m sure there are already things like this out there—maybe even something mass-produced. But I try not to go looking. When you see that every idea already exists in some form, it can take the air out of it. So I’m just doing it for myself—out of curiosity, to see what might come of it.

It might not work, and I might not finish it. It’ll probably be a dead end. But right now, it feels like the right time to give it a shot.