ARTFUL TECHNOLOGIES
Tools where expressive experience is as important as computational power. The flagship product is Kraftsound — the world's first 3D-printed playable disc platform.
kraftsound.co.uk →BASED BETWEEN COVENTRY · BEIJING · THE WORLDScroll→
00 / Index⌘ COMPOSER · FOUNDER · ACADEMIC LEADER
BENOÎT
GRANIER — Composer, Founder, and Academic Leader
Building things that didn't exist before — in music, technology, and education — for 20 years.
- CEO
- CTO
- Educator
- Artist
01 / 04
Decision
Direction
CEO of Artful Technologies · Director of Innovatoire CIC
- ARTFUL TECHNOLOGIES
- KRAFTSOUND
- INNOVATOIRE CIC
INNOVATOIRE CIC
Pioneering education centre bridging arts, engineering, and business. Empowering communities to build innovative solutions aligned with the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
02 / 04
Systems
Infrastructure
Building production-grade technology at the intersection of forensic AI and creative tools. PACE-AI's evidence analysis platform. Kraftsound's NFC disc ecosystem. CoolieTool's privacy-first audio toolkit.
- PACE-AI CTO
- Kraftsound Tech
- CoolieTool
Pedestrian Collision Evaluator (PACE-AI)
Forensic AI platform
Pedestrian collision evidence analysis for law enforcement. Built at the intersection of machine learning and legal accountability.
KRAFTSOUND
Platform Architecture & Development
I write the code. From the audio-to-geometry pipeline that converts music into 3D-printable groove geometry to the full NFC disc ecosystem.
COOLIE TOOL
Audio Privacy Toolkit
Browser-native, 100% client-side. No audio ever leaves your device. Psychoacoustic watermarking, AI detection, and professional metadata management.
03 / 04
Knowledge
Transmission
Assistant Professor and Course Director at Coventry University. Acting Deputy Head of School. 20 years teaching across Beijing, Singapore, and the UK — from CCOM to the RSA.
- Coventry University
- SFHEA
- FRSA
2001
MPhil — Mixed Media Composition
Trinity College Dublin
2003
PhD — Composition & Computer Music
Trinity College Dublin
2005
Lecturer in Music & Media Technologies
Trinity College Dublin
2008
Professor — Composition, Production & Analysis
Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing · CEMC (Centre for Electronic Music of China) & Composition Department
2010
Associate Dean — Peking University
Wuxi campus · programme setup
2012
Composer in Residence & Teacher
Dulwich College International, Beijing
2018
Assistant Professor & Course Director
Music & Audio Production · Coventry University
2025–26
Acting Deputy Head of School
School of Art & Creative Industries (WAMS)
04 / 04
Expression · · Emotion
35 years as composer and electroacoustic artist. Premiered at Carnegie Hall, the Smithsonian, Harvard, and Xi'an Conservatory of Music at Sonic Futures 2026.
- 30+ Works
- Xi'an 2026
- Carnegie Hall
Selected Compositions
2012 — 2024A Live for Steve
2024Electronic Tape · Transcultural Exchange
Tribute work exploring algorithmic patterning and digital minimalism.
Cello Suites 1–6
2021Solo Cello · A-Projecto Festival, Marbella
Commissioned for “Bach 2 Basics”. Performed by Roger Morello Ros and Mariona Camats.
The City of Dys (Cycle)
2018Mixed Ensemble & Electronics · Proxima Centauri
Premiered at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing.
L’amore Che Move Il Sole e L’altre Stelle
2017Networked Ensemble · University of Helsinki
Performed simultaneously across multiple international sites.
Verrà la Morte Avrà i Tuoi Occhi
2014Baritone & Orchestra · Wangfujing Cathedral, Beijing
Noted as the first foreign-composed orchestral work performed there.
Kyopo Multiplicity
2012Chamber Ensemble & Electronics · Smithsonian Institution
Multimedia collaboration with artist CYJO.
BENOÎT GRANIER — COMPOSER · FOUNDER · ACADEMIC LEADER
00 Index01 CEO02 CTO03 LRN04 ART
Strategy✦Systems Architecture✦Generative Art✦Curriculum Design✦Type-Safe Engineering✦Sound + Light✦Mentoring✦Brand & Direction✦Strategy✦Systems Architecture✦Generative Art✦Curriculum Design✦Type-Safe Engineering✦Sound + Light✦Mentoring✦Brand & Direction✦Strategy✦Systems Architecture✦Generative Art✦Curriculum Design✦Type-Safe Engineering✦Sound + Light✦Mentoring✦Brand & Direction✦
02 / Selected Work
Things I've shipped, shown, or signed.
2025
№ 01 / 05
Innovation happens when technical systems remain permeable to artistic intuition.
FLAGSHIP · KRAFTSOUND
Visit kraftsound.co.uk
FOUNDER · CEO
ARTFUL TECHNOLOGIES; TOOLS WHERE EXPRESSIVE EXPERIENCE IS AS IMPORTANT AS COMPUTATIONAL POWER — SYSTEMS WHERE AESTHETIC, INTERACTION AND EXPRESSION ARE PART OF THE CORE FUNCTIONALITY, NOT A LAYER ON TOP.
An artful technology should:
- 01Preserve flow
- 02Feel alive
- 03Reveal itself while being used
- 04Reward exploration, not just efficiency
- 05Make constraints expressive
Parent company · Kraftsound · CoolieTool · Modern Noir
№ 02 / 052025
PACE-AI
CTO
Forensic AI platform calculating vehicle impact speed and pedestrian trajectory from accident photographs. Built with Coventry University; in active trials with 31 German police departments, with commercial interest from AXA, Zurich and Allianz.
№ 03 / 052024
ARTIST · COMPOSER
Real-time audio-reactive installation premiered at Sonic Futures 2026, Xi'an — the first work in which I used AI as a genuine creative collaborator. Eight Chinese mood states, Tang/Song dynasty poetry, FFT chroma detection. Featured in MUSIC:ED.
№ 04 / 052023
COURSE DIRECTOR · BSc MUSIC & AUDIO PRODUCTION
Leading the BSc Music and Audio Production programme at Coventry University's School of Art and Creative Industries — shaping the next generation of music technologists and sound practitioners. Bridging creative pedagogy with institutional strategy, advocating for practice-led learning at every level. Designing and delivering postgraduate modules (including a co-creation with the RSA) that place professional innovation and futures thinking at the heart of the curriculum. Teaching draws on 35 years of electroacoustic composition and a 20-year international career across Beijing, Hong Kong, Paris and Valencia.
2023
№ 05 / 05
Helping youth take their first steps into the creative industry.
FLAGSHIP · CITY THAT SHAPED US — COVENTRY
Public showcase · Aug 2026
FOUNDER · DIRECTOR
INNOVATOIRE; A TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE THAT EQUIPS STUDENTS FOR FULFILLING CAREERS IN THE DYNAMIC, EVER-EVOLVING CREATIVE INDUSTRY — THROUGH DIVERSITY AND INNOVATION.
What we stand for:
- 01Unlock potential
- 02Discover talents
- 03Transformative learning
- 04Diversity & innovation
- 05Career-ready skills
- 06Community first
Community interest company · Coventry, UK
03 / Lab
Half-finished things,
on purpose.
A working notebook of experiments, prototypes and research. Scroll to slide through — left to right.
IN PROGRESS№ 01
AUDIO · WEB · SPATIAL
Cubiculum Soni: Second World
Can a phone become a room? No app, no headset.
click to flip↻
WHAT'S BEING BUILT
Psychoacoustic speaker filtering makes sound appear larger than its source. Tilt the phone and a 360° sonic scene rotates around you. Eight Chinese mood states. Tang dynasty poetry. Web Audio API + DeviceOrientation — no install required.
flip back ↺
PROTOTYPE№ 02
AUDIO · PROTOTYPE
CoolieTool
Browser-native audio privacy toolkit. Nothing leaves your machine.
click to flip↻
WHAT IT DOES
Strips metadata, detects AI origin markers, embeds psychoacoustic watermarks and designs NFC payloads — all client-side, built in React/TypeScript. Part of Artful Technologies Ltd.
flip back ↺
IN PROGRESS№ 03
WRITING
Biography of a Tree
A tree watches. A little girl grows. Time moves differently for both.
click to flip↻
THE BOOK
Written slowly over a year — a story about music, memory and growth told from the perspective of a tree. A relationship between a child and a living thing that measures time in rings, not years.
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IN PROGRESS№ 04
RESEARCH · WRITING
Electroacoustic Orphans
What happens to an opera when its instrument becomes obsolete?
click to flip↻
THE ARGUMENT
Early electroacoustic works were composed for specific hardware that no longer exists or software that no longer runs. A paper on the preservation crisis facing a repertoire we can no longer perform — and what we owe to it.
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ONGOING№ 05
SOUND · ARCHIVE
Electroacoustic Works
35 years of sound as material, space as instrument. A living archive.
click to flip↻
LISTEN
From acousmatic works to AI-collaborative pieces — this is the thread that runs through everything else on this site. Starting point, not endpoint.
→ LISTEN ON SOUNDCLOUDflip back ↺
ONGOING№ 06
AI · MUSIC
Modern Noir
An AI band. Before anyone was calling it that.
click to flip↻
THE PROJECT
A band where some of the members don't exist. Formed before the conversation about AI and music began. Whether that makes it ahead of its time or just early is still an open question.
→ LISTEN ON SOUNDCLOUDflip back ↺
scroll ↓ slides →
04 / Writing
Notes from the in-between.
Long-form thinking, cross-posted to LinkedIn so you can read it where you already are.
Feb 2026·essay·3 min
What I Found When I Stopped Trying to Master Things
My creativity doesn't live in mastery. It lives in discovery — in pulling from different fields and looking at problems with fresh eyes. Why I keep choosing the beginner's mind.
Read on LinkedIn ↗
Feb 2026·essay·4 min
What If We Treated Products Like Songs?
Music has mastered something most industries haven't: turning one piece of IP into many revenue streams. What happens when we apply that thinking to products, content, creative work?
Read on LinkedIn ↗
Jun 2026·interview·6 min
AI Can Generate Music. So What Is Music Education Actually For?
Interviewed by Music Education Global after my keynote at Sonic Futures 2026 (Xi'an Conservatory). The real challenge isn't technical anymore — it's philosophical. We can automate production, simulate style. We still haven't answered why we create.
Read on LinkedIn ↗
May 2026·essay·5 min
The Polymath Revolution
Our systems reward specialisation more than integration. We prepare people to be experts in a single lane, not explorers across many. Why education and mentorship need to champion polymath thinking — curiosity, connection, and the courage to cross boundaries.
Coming soon