For a good while steel tongue drum were the "peacocks" of UFO-shaped singing steel, while Handpan remained, in general, more humble in their appearance. Over the last few years though we’ve shared posts on a handful of more elaborately decorated Handpan, such as those by Vadjraghanta, and SoHung. And while quality of sound should always remain the most sought-after quality to search for in a Handpan (in our opinion at least), should you be looking to make a purchase, the trend towards ever more aesthetically pleasing Handpan appears to be gaining momentum. And if you can have both sound, and appealing looks, well, why not?
Below are featured a number of the more ornate Handpan offerings that we have stumbled across in recent times, for your perusal…
Innersound
The following pictures are of an Innersound Handpan shared via Facebook by Handpan Musician, Kim Metcalf, that found its way into the hands of tattoo-artist, Clare Lupino. These photos of this Innersound Handpan embellished with what is believed to be some kind of gold enamel paint, have become one of the most liked publicly-available Handpan Facebook posts of recent times...
While the above appears to be an example of an artist working upon their Handpan independently of the original maker. The following photo appears to demonstrate a collaborative work between Hamsa Handpan maker, Stevan Morris, and artist, Pirouz Ghayouri. To see the bottom shell of this pan, decorated with an incredibly ornate rendering of the Hamsa Handpan logo…
PanAmor Sound Sculptures
And the following recently shared photographs appear to be an example of ornate Handpan design added during the building phase itself, with this geometric-mandala type offering coming straight out of the workshop of UK Handpan-makers, Pan Amor...
