American clothing brand Kith and Brooklyn furniture designer Mark Jupiter have included reissued 1960 Bose speakers in elegant wooden casings and metal bases.
Keith was commissioned to re-photograph the packaging of Bose speakers to celebrate their 60th anniversary. The company worked with the Massachusetts-based audio engineering firm to bring a contemporary take on what has become a well-known design since it was first introduced to the market in 1968.
The result was a limited run – only twelve pairs were made – with an updated version of the original hardware. This is important because it has rear-facing speakers that reflect sound away from the walls, creating an enveloping sound effect.
This device is housed in wooden cases to highlight the speakers’ potential as decoration.
“The way people used to put these speakers in their homes, they felt more like pieces of furniture than anything else — though [Bose] “Reinvent sound with these headphones,” Kith founder Ronnie Fieg told Dezeen.
“It’s time to respect the design and understand how timeless it was, and all I’m trying to do is build around it because the 901 is iconic beyond words.”
Vig noted that his admiration for the speakers and his continued dedication to music and music culture made the collaboration logical.
To achieve the pairing of “timeless” furniture and sound, Fieg used Jupiters to frame the speakers.
The two have worked together in the past, with Jupiter designing wood furniture and interior architecture pieces for Kith’s retail stores and Fieg’s personal homes.
“vision [Jupiter’s] “Working hand-in-hand with the way I listen to music,” Fieg said, “is a natural evolution of how we work together. It’s furniture that performs a function.”
The speakers themselves are fitted with two different wood casings – white painted ash and natural air-dried walnut.
They rest on indented bases made of hand-painted brass giving the product a contemporary look as they sprout from the wooden bases.
Overall, the look of the speaker system remains close to the original, and Keith even got the same gray fabric used on the 1968 version for the interfaces.
The collaboration between Kith and Bose represents a rare foray into interior design for Kith, but Fieg insisted he wasn’t capitalizing on any trend.
“There’s no formula to this project. It’s not like I had an agenda to try to bring furniture into what we do,” he said, adding that his own interests often guide his collaborations.
However, he said he is “excited” that his audience will learn about furniture design through exposure to Jupiter’s work. It is Jupiter’s first sound system design.
Celine Sari designs an air-purifying speaker that “purifies the air through sound and music”
Fieg said he’s noticed a heavy focus on comfort when it comes to music listening design.
“These are, you know, the items in your room that should be fun to look at,” he said.
“I think what’s happened over the years is that convenience has taken over the music industry, in the way people see what music should sound like and how speakers should sound, but I feel like that’s become boring to me.”
“I’m very passionate about music. It’s been the soundtrack to my life. So I want to embellish that,” Feige concluded.
Kith is known for its collaborations with other brands. Last year, in collaboration with New Balance and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, it launched a sneaker featuring colors from the late American architect’s personal color palette.
Other designers who have revived speakers as decor include Australian designer Tom Ferriday, who recently collaborated with Tasmanian audio brand Pitt & Giblin to create large speakers encased in aluminum so they are “celebrated, not hidden”.
Photography courtesy of Keith.
