Stockholm-based audio brand Transparent has a habit of making wireless speakers that look quite different to the rest of the market. But its latest bold take on speaker design is a bit of a departure from its better-known version and, well, transparent roots and an incursion into new shapes and materials for the brand.
The Brutalist Speaker takes its reference from an architectural style that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, known for its simple, geometric lines and its championing of raw materials over decorative excess.
Instead of the tempered glass used in several of its other products, Transparent’s Brutalist speaker is made from 70 percent post-consumer recycled aluminum. With its 6.5-inch side-mounted woofer, along with two 3-inch tweeters, rather conspicuously placed at raised 90-degree angles, it makes fun of traditional speaker design.
“While we are best known for our transparent collection of products, that is not the reasoning behind our name,” Per Brickstad, creative director of Transparent, tells WIRED. “It’s about our overall approach to honesty in design and how we want to be seen by our clients. That’s why we’ve been exploring various materials and the different ways we can manifest that design philosophy in new projects.
“We had done a previous project in limited release called Acoustic Sculpture, which is an organic sculptural speaker inspired by the human ear. We were interested in creating another speaker in this category, but one that related more closely to our minimalist design approach.
“We had been looking at brutalism quite a bit because it is a fascinating architectural style: you don’t know if these buildings are from another planet or from Earth. But it also lends itself well to positioning components for acoustic performance.”