Bang & Olufsen has been a hive of collaborative activity of late. Just last week, the Danish sound designer launched a new collection of accessories and colourways with Kvadrat and Raf Simons, and now, it announces its partnership with travel brand Rimowa.
‘This collaboration will make the world travel at the speed of sound,’ says John Mollanger, executive vice president at Bang & Olufsen, of the new limited edition iteration of the Beoplay H9i headphones – which are actively noise cancelling, a modern-day essential for frequent flyers.
A corresponding ridged Rimowa travel case will please longterm fans of the luggage leader. The miniature version of its aircraft engineering-inspired carrying case (which it has been making in various iterations since 1898), snuggly houses the headphones, providing them with a sturdy and lightweight carrier, from hotel room to home again.
This collaboration seems a natural move for Rimowa; not just for the two brand’s shared approach to craftmanship, and their shared space in the travel industry (in which high quality headphones are now considered as essential as a sturdy suitcase), but for their equally strong ties to aluminium.
B&O has utilised anodised aluminium in both its audio and visual design output since 1955, with its Struer headquarters being dubbed the home of ‘aluminium alchemy’. Similarly, alongside its pioneering move into polycarbonate in 2000, Rimowa is almost synonymous with the material, praising aluminium’s ‘unbeatable strength’ and ‘long-lasting performance’. §
