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B&O/Balenciaga Portable Speaker is Milled From a Single Block of Aluminum

Hell IS the handbasket

By Rain Noe - July 12, 2022

in Object Culture

Well, this is insane. This week Bang & Olufsen revealed their new Speaker Bag, designed in collaboration with fashion house Balenciaga. The portable speaker, "Crafted to resemble the iconic sculptural form of Balenciaga's handbags," is freaking milled from a single block of aluminum.

"Each piece is milled from a single block of solid aluminum, before being pearl- blasted, anodized and hand-polished at Bang & Olufsen's Factory 5 in Struer, Denmark over a period of several days to create the perfect satin finish. A door at the rear of the speaker opens to reveal a storage compartment wrapped by hand in Balenciaga's Italian lambskin leather."

Attendant image photos reveal the target market:

"I'm here to pick up the ransom money for Daft Punk."

The limited edition Speaker Bag will only be available at some (not all) Balenciaga boutiques. Unsurprisingly, no price is listed.

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A Schulz

2 years ago

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For the fact, that it looks like a 90s CD player it's an unbelievable amount of wasted material.
Sorry, no offense, but when I think of B&O i think of state of the art design. Maybe as an industrial design page we should be more critical about such shallow styling. (just my opinion)
But nice to see, that a company is going an extra mile for design ;)

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- Dee An
  
  A Schulz
  
  2 years ago
  
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  When I think of Bang and Olufsen, I think of aesthetics that age exceptionally well, durability, and consideration for the user that has long been ahead of rivals. Multiroom audio, telephones that turn down the volume on the hifi when a call is taken, discreet satellite speakers etc.
  To these ends, they developed and refined Class D amplifiers, and aluminium anodisation processes - both of which they offer as services to other companies. They've never had in-house designers, either.
  So yeah, they they've milled a block of an easily recycled material into a speaker to sell in very small numbers - by a couture fashion house - to people who already have literal tons of aluminium in the shape of luxury cars or sculptures. It wouldn't be my first target on a crusade to eliminate e-waste.
  Like many a luxury car brand, they have a Colour Material Finish customisation service for customers.
  As a speaker it will last a very long time, as Bang and Olufsen kit does, with a repair and refurbishment service available should it be necessary (battery after several years). At end of life, the aluminium is easily recycled. I can't see the material and process selection as being that different from those aluminium unibody Macbook Pros from around a dozen years back (and are usually still in good working order).
  
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