Hardware Reincarnation: the Electronic Vape Synth and Other Upstream Salvaged Circuit

Overview

A full-day studio workshop that positions upstream salvage—the strategic redeployment of discarded electronics—as a design methodology. The investigation centers on the Vape Synth, a sound instrument constructed from recycled vaporizer hardware, and extends this framework into a collective prototyping environment. The session operates at the intersection of material culture, sound design, and resourceful fabrication practices, treating salvaged electronics as generative sites for technological experimentation and intervention.

Methods and approach

The workshop employs disassembly and hands-on reassembly as primary investigative tools, with participants deconstructing vapes and other discarded devices to extract functional components and repurpose them into synthesizer prototypes and interactive sound-making instruments. The methodology draws explicitly from transnational traditions of improvised engineering and adaptive reuse—including gambiarra, jugaad, Shanzhai, and Lajilao—positioning salvage as a process-oriented rather than outcome-driven endeavor. Participants engage iteratively with material constraints, component affordances, and emergent interaction logics through rapid prototyping cycles that privilege discovery over predetermined design specifications.

Key Findings

Participants generate functional prototypes, including synthesizers and sound instruments, alongside documented process records and a collaborative publication (zine) cataloging salvage methodologies and technical strategies. The workshop outcomes emphasize the revelation of novel human-device interaction paradigms that emerge through the specific materiality and constraints of salvaged electronics. Artifacts produced reflect both individual experimentation and collective knowledge-building around the technical and conceptual possibilities of repurposed hardware.

Implications

The workshop contributes to material discourse in design by demonstrating salvage as a rigorous epistemic framework rather than merely pragmatic necessity. By situating contemporary electronic waste reclamation within established global practices of resourceful making, the investigation repositions discarded devices as sites of creative agency and technological plurality. The emphasis on process documentation and collaborative knowledge sharing suggests models for distributed design practice that decenter commercial innovation cycles and foreground iterative, socially-embedded approaches to technological intervention.