The new design collab between speaker developer Audio Pro and artist Mikael Jepson has produced a standout multicoloured speaker, that nods to its creator’s heritage.
Mikael Jepson emerged as the guitarist of the band The Ark, which became one of Sweden’s biggest glam rock bands in the early 2000s, with tours spanning the world. The Ark always wore clothing with a distinctive flamboyant style, and this remains a big inspiration in Jepson’s art and design today. Jepson started to design fabrics and furniture in 2008 and for the last 15 years has also created his own artwork.
Swedish speaker manufacturer Audio Pro has worked with Jepson to have him design a new colour edition of their popular T3+ speaker. Mikael Jepson explains: “This is a little dream of mine, to design my own Audio Pro speaker, so I said yes in a second. My idea was to make something that has never been done before, so I thought let’s make the speaker into a piece of art. My first idea was to use the speaker box as a passepartout and then use every part of the speaker as the painting. With that in mind I started to change colours on almost every detail of the speaker, creating a painting with all these different wonderful colours. And what you see here is the result of this process, and of course I love it.”
Jens Henriksen, CCO at Audio Pro comments; “This special design is really part of Mikael Jepson’s signature craftmanship. It’s a really eye-catching design, with vibrant colours, and a bit of glitz and glamour. These things are all very much part of his unmissable and unmistakable style. We thought it would be fascinating to see what he would be able to transform our speaker into and were sure it would be unconventional. The result is absolutely inspiring. Very far from the conventional black or grey speaker that you would normally see in this industry. We are thrilled to launch this to the market.”
“With my passion for sound and the creativity of making music and art, this is truly the perfect collaboration” says Mikael Jepson. This little speaker really draws on The Ark’s colourful palette and costumes, and it has Mikael Jepson’s inspirational design written all over it.
The limited edition T3+ Jepson will be available at retailers mid/end November, and has a suggested retail price of € 200 / $ 200 / £ 180.
Audio Pro is a Swedish company with strong roots in the early HiFi industry. The company has designed, developed and manufactured speakers since 1978 and is today available in over 55 countries globally. Audio Pro launched in the 70’s a range of active speakers with advanced technology and high sound quality, that have become milestones in the history of speakers. Today Audio Pro is still a strong and innovative company, managed with high entrepreneurial spirit, and the active speakers have now been equipped with wireless, multiroom and smart voice-control features. Since 2012 the company have also entered the commercial segment with a range of products for retail and hospitality. The brand Audio Pro Business offers wireless speaker systems for stores, restaurants, hotels etc. In recent years, Audio Pro has increased its focus on more sustainable solutions, by e.g. prolonging the life span of its products.