Showcase 2026 Student Spotlight: Charlie Marchini
Student Spotlight featuring BSc (Hons) Product Design student Charlie Marchini and his dedicated wall bracket for the Rega Naia turntable.
By Jon Duckworth | Published on 8 May 2026
Categories: Student Showcase; School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment;
The Project
This project focuses on bringing ultimate performance to Rega’s newest flagship turntable, the Naia.
"The Naia has the greatest sensitivity of the product range to allow maximum clarity and sound to be gathered from the groove in vinyl records," explains Charlie Marchini. "But this sensitivity can make this high-end turntable susceptible to external vibration (such as people walking into the room or even cars passing by outside – seen in my initial case study with one of my users)."
For BSc (Hons) Product Design student Charlie, the solution to this sensitivity is a grounding mechanism in the form of a wall bracket that "decouples" the turntable from vibrations, allowing the greatest clarity from the system with no external interruptions during playback delivering maximum audio performance.
The bracket design aims to reduce the risk of vibrations so the Naia delivers maximum performance. Image by Charlie Marchini.
The inspiration behind the project
Naturally, Charlie took inspiration from Rega’s own range of products and its product family tree as well. But his design was also informed by "the more obscure industrial architecture that coincides with Rega’s own design language, such as the Centre Pompidou which purposely shows its internal workings, a commonality with Rega designs which showcase their engineering as a design focal point."
He goes on: "I was also inspired by Rega’s old bracket for the Naiad (the current flagship’s predecessor) which played a big part in the material ethos while creating a more mass manufacturable design. But the key technical objective was to make the design rigid but low mass to stop any low end vibrations that could transmit through the bracket design to the turntable system."
Charlie was inspired by Rega designs that show internal workings. Image by Charlie Marchini.
The project experience
Charlie says that working on a design for mass manufacture made him acutely aware of miniscule details upon which he needed to seek expert opinion.
"This pushed me out of my comfort zone," he says, "and helped me develop better communication and networking skills, as well as developing my technical knowledge throughout the design process."
"As some of the processes such as carbon fibre moulding are extremely specialist, I have had to find workarounds that give me the same mechanical functionality whilst being easier to manufacture; this whole systematic analysis throughout evaluating plausibility of the design has given me a greater understanding of the manufacturing process and how this interfaces with and influences the design process.
"I have facilitated influence from my user group in the development of my design, which has been a very rewarding and symbiotic process and has developed my appreciation for finding trends in user data, collating and analysing data responses to develop the design to a highly user focussed product."
Charlie Marchini, BSc (Hons) Product Design
Being part of NTU
Charlie says that during his time studying at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), he has developed greater communication and presentation skills that have made him feel more confident within a competitive industry.
"I’ve developed a greater focus in planning and time management which pushed me to perform tasks and spend time note-taking and planning that has informed and guided the design process."
Asking to recall some memorable moments on the course, he says:
"The initial 'me box' ice breaker at the start of first year. Everyone was so awkward that it's funny and strange to think about how close I am with some of my classmates now. Another memorable moment for me was when Steve in the workshop showed me how to spot weld one of my final prototypes - allowing me to do the finishing touches myself, which was very satisfying to be able to finish of the final aspects of my prototype."
Closing remarks
Charlie has the following words of wisdom for potential future students of Product Design:
"Peer review your work, get honest input and don’t be shy to ask other students for input on your thought processes and your presentation style. Think about your designs objectively rather than a personal attachment or extension of yourself; separating this mindset allows you to listen to other people during group tutorials and self-scrutinise and will help you generate more thoughtful and considered designs."
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Our Student Showcase is open to the public from 30 May until 5 June 2026 and available to view online. Take a look at the work of our talented architecture and product design students.