Bang & Olufsen x Sotheby’s are embarking on a unique partnership

No matter where you choose to place a Bang & Olufsen, it’s going to look beautiful. BeoSound 1’s striking design lends itself to being displayed like a modernist sculpture.

The Danish high-end audio company announced the release of five one-of-a-kind colours of Beo Sound1 systems, available exclusively through Sotheby’s. Each of these rare and stunning pieces is engraved “1/1” signifying its uniqueness.

 

This auction comprises an extremely rare offering of five one-of-a-kind editions of Bang & Olufsen’s pioneering BeoSound 1 wireless speaker system.

BeoSound 1 features a sleek conical body that provides exceptional 360-degree sound dispersion. “More than just a speaker, BeoSound 1 is a remarkable piece of design. The five lots included in this auction are particularly covetable as each features a unique color that has not been produced beyond these singular examples,” says Sotheby’s team.

Despite its seemingly simple appearance, BeoSound 1’s design is an engineering feat that employs the full breadth of Bang & Olufsen’s technical prowess. The speaker’s modernist silhouette, created by award-winning industrial designer Torsten Valeur, is sheathed in aluminium — a material that provides unparalleled acoustics but is notoriously difficult to work with. Bang & Olufsen’s Danish factory has been at the forefront of aluminium manufacturing since the 1950s, and these five speakers are the culmination of more than a half a century of research and development. The distinctive hues that wash these models are achieved through a complex technique called anodizing. Anodizing aluminium may sound like a standard industrial process, but it is an art form that has been used in the work of visual artists such as Donald Judd and Robert Ryman.

 

This one-of-a-kind piece is distinguished by its elegant tan hue that radiates a warm, honeyed glow. To create this rich color, the aluminium body was submerged in an acid bath to give it a uniformly matte finish and then each component was individually dyed — an intricate process that required a day-long takeover of Bang & Olufsen’s state-of-the-art anodizing plant. With style and smarts in equal measure, this unique BeoSound 1 would make an impressive addition to the collections of music-lovers and aesthetes alike.