It was something Medhi wished he owned, but could not afford – rotary mixers. Why buy it, when you can make it. “I read so many circuits and saw so many designs, it started really sinking in. I could make something similar myself,” says Medhi. It took Medhi a few years to make the design, and a few more before he kept a finished product for himself. Every time a mixer was made, it was sold. There’s an important lesson in passion, drive and value in Condesa’s growth as a business. Originally selling them short, it wasn’t until Medhi upped the price to the product’s true value that people began taking notice. His mixers now appear in clubs, Boiler Room sessions and studios around the globe. “If you’ve got an idea and you want to set something up, and you want to start a business or something, it’s totally possible in Adelaide. Everything that I can get made to do with the production of the mixers, I get done here in Adelaide, in South Australia. Because I think it’s important to try and plough some money back. Anything is possible here, but keep your eyes on a global market,” says Medhi. He doesn’t believe in devaluing anything anyone creates, or being tempted by people offering promotion and social media exposure as payment. “I won’t do that. Simply because a lot of everyday people have paid for their mixer. The big names can afford them so why shouldn’t they pay.” Medhi goes on to recount stories of people who own Condesa mixers and acknowledges a growing movement of young DJs in Adelaide. This coincides with a kind of analogue revival in music gear, with the re-release of vintage synths and drum machines - not to mention the rebirth of record collecting. While new technology inevitably replaces old, offering more accessibility, there is also a dialogue across the generations about not sacrificing quality for convenience.
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