Stockholm-based audio brand Transparent has a bit of a habit of making wireless speakers that look rather different to the rest of the market. But its latest bold take on speaker design is something of a departure from its more well-known and, well, transparent roots, and a venture into new shapes and materials for the brand.
The Brutalist Speaker takes its reference from a style of architecture that originated in the UK in the 1950s, known for its simple, geometric lines and championing of raw materials over decorative excess.
Instead of the tempered glass used in a number 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, alongside dual 3-inch tweeters, placed rather strikingly at elevated 90-degree angles, it laughs in the face of traditional speaker design.
“Even though we are most known for our transparent collection of products, that is not the reasoning behind our name,” Per Brickstad, creative director at Transparent, tells WIRED. “It’s about our overall approach to honesty in design, and how we want to be seen by our customers. So we have been exploring various materials and the different ways we can manifest that design philosophy in new projects.
“We had done a previous project on a limited release called the Acoustic Sculpture, which is an organic sculptural speaker that’s inspired by the human ear. We were keen to do another speaker in this category, but one that relates more closely to our minimalistic design approach.
“We had been looking at Brutalism quite a bit because it’s such a mesmerizing 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 too.”
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