Bang & Olufsen’s minimalist A9 speaker already looked like a piece of art, but the Danish company recently recruited artists worldwide to create custom covers for the powerful 7-driver speaker and its room-filling sound dubbed the Art of the A9.
Swizz Beatz selected Chicago-based painter Ferrari Sheppard’s portrait “My Name is Sarah” to feature as a limited edition A9 cover. Self-taught painter Johanna Dumet leans into painting traditions to create irony and humor through bold color. Miriam Alia is a Spanish architect and interior designer named one of AD magazine’s ‘best 100 Creators.’
The Seoul-based artist GRAFFLEX reinterprets familiar objects, logos, and characters through the lens of his childhood using bright, upbeat colors and cartoonishly thick lines. Graphic designer Alexis Jamet pushes the boundary between figurative and abstract to allow space for imagination and interpretation of his work.
Multi-disciplinary artist Manon Cezaro created her cover’s shapes in plaster, then scanned them to create a digital composition for her cover. A background in graphic design and advertising influences Vanessa Teodoro’s street-art style. Appropriate, considering she’s collaborated with brands like Louis Vuitton and Jaguar in her artwork.
Chinese indie rock and synth-pop band Mimikbanka 限量版 selected a design by their vocalist, Sindy, for their A9 speaker canvas (and cover of their 4th EP, Vitamin D). Lei Peng – perhaps best known as the lead vocal and guitarist for the Chinese rock band New Pants – is also an illustrator. His custom artwork features his original characters, Mimi and Gaga. After debuting in 2008, Jam Hsiao quickly took Hong Kong’s top award spots for both music and movies. The artist has since branched out to painting, lending his original Spread Love painting to the A9 project.
For more from Bang & Olufsen, check out the Beosound Balance Natural Aluminum.