Cymatic Swim Shorts

In 1680, English scientist Robert Hooke poured a bunch of flour onto a glass plate and then vibrated the plate by running a bow across it. What he saw was the flour rearranging itself as if by magic into a series of stunningly intricate patterns that changed every time he changed the ‘note.’ In the 18th century German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni built on these experiments, using sand on metal plates and producing ‘Chladni figures’ – the first cataloguing of the physical shapes of sound.

It’s highly unlikely that Hooke and Chladni were the first to explore the function of wave mechanics. They just got the best press. You find these kinds of mind-bendingly complex patterns in the architecture, design and philosophy of ancient cultures on almost every continent.

But it wasn’t until the 20th century that the term ‘cymatics’ was coined by Swiss physician Hans Jenny to describe the science of visible sound. Using oscillators to vibrate plates coated with powders, pastes and liquids, Jenny revealed that different frequencies could generate complex, repeating patterns – often resembling the structures found in nature. His experiments proved that sound is not just something we hear, but a force capable of shaping matter into organised, harmonious structures.

Josef Gatti, an Australian filmmaker, started experimenting with cymatics in 2016, intrigued by the wave forms he could create with water and a sub-woofer. He turned his skills, and the best film-making tools, to capturing the way sound can re-order matter into complex, repeating patterns. Each visualisation took hours of experimentation, and he filmed the results in stunning 6K. Working with Gatti, we captured stills from two of his cymatics sequences and turned them into mesmerising prints.

Gatti experimented with water, salt, pollen and non-Newtonian fluid to create his cymatics short films. And used smart lighting to remove background detail. “I want to see whatever interaction is taking place as purely as possible,” Gatti says. “With these films, I’ve been able to isolate the pure pattern. They go beyond language, beyond culture but we have an inherent attraction to them, we’re hardwired to respond to them in some way.”

Our first pattern was created with water and sound frequencies between 200Hz and 250Hz. And it was filmed with a single-point source light to the side of the dish to produce a finer and more irregular pattern. The second was created using oil and a sound frequency of 50Hz. And it was lit from all directions with a larger source, producing thicker lines.

Josef Gatti’s cymatics experiments were the launch pad for Phenomena, a nine-part original digital series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation looking at energy, matter, sound waves, light, electricity, magnetism, magnitudes and evolution. The films are part popular science programming, part psychedelic odyssey into the hidden maths and mechanics of the cosmic substructure.

Woven with 31% elastane, the Cymatic Swim Shorts stretch in every direction so there’s no move you can pull where they won’t follow you. If you do somehow manage to pull the shorts in opposite directions at the same time, you’ll find they simply snap right back into their original shape.

The shorts are treated with a durable water repellent coating that’s completely free from toxic fluorocarbons. Ocean spray will simply roll off them. And the same technology means the shorts dry rapidly out of the water, especially in direct sunlight. We’ve lined the Cymatic Swim Shorts with an amazingly soft Italian mesh that sits next to your skin, so you stay comfortable from the inside out. Just like the outer material it’s highly breathable, stretchy and fast drying. And it’s treated with an antibacterial finish, so the shorts stay fresh for longer, even when you’re sweating hard.

The materials we’ve worked with are tested and protected against degradation caused by both saltwater and chlorine. So they’re built to handle long days out in the water, whether that’s at the pool or somewhere deep in the Pacific Ocean. But they work just as well out of the water too. Their minimalist cut, soft material, practical pockets and secure rope-tied waistband mean they work just as well on land.

The shorts come with two side pockets large enough to hold your phone, cards and keys on land, or a GPS in the water. Both pockets are lined with the same super soft, stretchy and breathable mesh to keep air flowing around your body. There’s also a zipped back pocket on the right-hand side with laser-cut water escape holes. It fastens with a lockable zipper protected by a storm flap. And inside the pocket there’s a panel we’ve laser-cut with drainage holes so that water can escape when it needs to.