Introducing: Custom Art
Custom Art is a happy, fairy tale-like story for me. My first message to Piotr, the founder of the company, was back in July 2013. I was looking for an aftermarket cable for my CIEMs, and I just happened to come across a gorgeous picture of sleeved cables on Head-Fi.
This prompted me to PM Piotr, and in the subsequent conversation he managed to “wow” me with his accommodating manner and lightning-fast responses. In a couple weeks time, I received a cable that looked and felt fantastic at a steal of a price.
So in December of the same year when I was looking to get a pair of CIEMs reshelled, Custom Art immediately came to mind with their silicone offerings. Customer service was again top-notch, and the CIEMs came back to me with a brand new look and sound.
After Massdrop recruited me to lead and grow the Audio community, I had a few specific manufacturers in mind that I really wanted us to work with. Custom Art was very high on that list, so I reached out to Piotr to see if we could do something together. That something turned out to be the Harmony 8 Pro.
I snapped a pair for myself immediately, and the drop sold out in less than a day. This came as a pleasant surprise to everyone. On an interesting note, the success of the H8P and the subsequent requests for a re-run played a large role in convincing the team that CIEMs were a viable and desirable subcategory on Massdrop.
As an audio enthusiast who appreciates manufacturers that care about their products and customers, it’s been a treat for me to see Custom Art grow. I sat down with Piotr to pick his brain on the company today.
Chatting with: Piotr Granicki
Heyo Piotr! One of the interesting things I've heard about Custom Art is that it started off as a hobby for you. Was there a point in time or something that happened that made you think, “You know what, this could be something I turn into my full time job”?
Hey! Yes, that’s true. Audio was always a big passion for me. Years ago earphones and portable gear gained my interest simply because I was using them during the commute to and from school. I was constantly looking for better and better sound. Then when I started reviewing earphones, I got hooked on Balanced Armature technology and it pretty much stayed with me. In my spare time I was doing some DIY (jack repairs, amp building, etc.) so soldering was my second passion.
But believe me, the story is no fairy-tale. It’s blood, sweat and tears. Three years ago there was a life-changing moment for me that pushed me to do this. Thoughts were more like “Dude, what you are doing with your life?! Just do what you like and what you want, do it the best you can and don’t care if it’s going to be profitable”. I needed something that I could honestly care about and that’s how CA happened.
Right on. The customization options that are available for Custom Art products are staggering. Why did you allow for so many different choices, and what kind of complexities does that add to the manufacturing process?
Well, one thing that being a reviewer had taught me was to do my research. I noticed that the silicone CIEM market was simply… boring. Acrylic IEMs allow for so much customization while silicone ones only allowed for a single plain color. I decided to shake things up a little bit.
We got hold of over 30 different colors of silicone material, then later adding swirl and faceplate options. We are probably the only company in the world that offers matte finish for the IEM - simply - because we can. Customized faceplates are always a bit more time consuming because of additional gluing and trimming. Making two–colored shells is also a bit tricky, but nothing too overly complex.
I agree, that's actually one of the things I really like about Custom Art. I feel like I'm designing my own ideal CIEM aesthetically. You’ve really expanded your product line-up. Tell me about the current offerings Custom Art has and what kind of audience each caters to.
We have 6 models right now in our line-up. The Music One is a budgetary, entry-level earphone with a very not-entry-level-sound. Music Two upgrades the Music One – more bass, more highs, generally more fun and engaging sound. The Pro330v2 is a very smooth, but very accurate sounding monitor and Harmony 8 and 8 Pro are our current flagships. Our audience consists mostly from audiophiles, we will be soon try to expand a little bit more into pro-musician market but time will tell… CA has strong ties with audiophile community and it will always be our primary target.
Let's talk about expansion. When you’re creating a new product, how do you decide on the tuning, the price, and all of the nitty gritty details?
The first thing I consider is target (price, type of customer, sound signature). Price will somehow determine number of drivers. Or we start with number of drivers and see what price is possible to achieve. Both of those factors are correlated. Basic sound signature is created as an aim - so f.e. “we’d like to make earphones that will be very warm, lush sounding” or, by contrary, very flat. Then starts the long search for suitable drivers, crossover, tubing etc. with drivers being the easiest choice.
I typically know what I want to use and what I want to do for given project. Sometimes everything clicks from the first try, other times it requires dozens of changes. I also like to explore possibilities, so even if I have my preferred sound tuned I may try to change something and see if I can push it further. If I don’t like what I hear, I can always go back to the previous setup.
For me one of the biggest part that plays role in creating final product is inspiration. Our products have got to have soul, heart and emotions that you can hear in Custom Art IEMs.
How many prototypes never make it to market? I see all of the products Custom Art currently offers, and I can’t help but wonder if there are a number of them that never see the light of day.
Hmmm that’s a tough one. Not much but still quite a few. I’ve got at least 7 in the lab including very old ones like early Music One prototype. Many however were dismantled after failed try outs. There’s no point in keeping something that there’s no use for.
It’s okay to give us a little sneak peek right? Anything cool on the horizon coming out for Custom Art?
Hahaha! For many reasons I can’t do it. But as always stay tuned. We are preparing a release of something very exciting and it’s gonna rock your ears HARD
Do you ever sleep? I’ve read numerous accounts of you answering Head-Fi PMs and emails at ungodly hours. I’m surprised you haven’t burnt out yet!
Aaaah, yeah… Yes, I do sleep although some of my customers “threatened” (jokingly) to send me email at 3am to check if I reply within minutes...
As everyone, I have my high and lows, but I learned to survive the bad days and enjoy good ones. Right now I’m trying to cut myself a bit of a slack and find some time for my personal life and end my workday in “human” hours. I’m very happy with my crew that helps me every day with tasks I’m not be able to handle myself anymore. Still, we are continuing our best customer service!
Also I’m on Head-Fi only all the time!
I’m going to ask you a harder question. What are some ways that you think Custom Art can continue to improve?
There are many things that I know we need to improve and there are many things we are improving right now. I think the best part of owning your company is that you can make decisions on spot to try something new, a different technique, material. We are also working closely with our distributors and they are always happy to help us with anything. CA is growing quite fast right now, so we are constantly improving our equipment to make the processing capacity bigger, turnaround shorter and quality better.
Closing Thoughts: On Custom Art
I’m a big fan of my Harmony 8 Pro. I appreciate how easily it slides in and out of the ear and the fantastic fit of silicone. Oh, and the sound. Piotr mentioned an extended treble, but despite my sensitivity to peaks and sibilance the tuning is not at all fatiguing to my ears. There’s a lot of manufacturers out there making CIEMs today, but I think Custom Art stands out with their tuning, choice of material, stellar customer service and vast customization options.
On a neat note if you’re attending CanJam this year, Piotr’s hooking us up with demo units of the Music One and Harmony 8 Pro to exhibit at the show. If you’re potentially in the market for CIEMs, definitely swing by and give them a listen!