Bang & Olufsen has partnered up with British experimental clothing brand Vollebak to reimagine one of its most iconic speakers. The result: the Beosound 2 Vollebak Edition, a conical, high-end speaker that looks less like home decor and more like a space relic scorched on re-entry. With a one-of-a-kind finish inspired by failed anodization and a strong conceptual backstory, this edition goes beyond a color refresh with a bold, futuristic reinvention.
At first glance, the Beosound 2 Vollebak Edition maintains the sculptural elegance of the original. But what sets it apart is the raw, unpredictable surface that coats its aluminum body. Its chaotic swirl of grays and blacks mimics the burn patterns left on a spacecraft’s hull after blasting through Earth’s atmosphere. The texture appears almost organic, with no two speakers looking exactly alike.
The design was born out of an accident. While Bang & Olufsen’s master aluminum finishers were experimenting with anodizing techniques to achieve a deep black, one test piece emerged with streaks and swirls – like burn scars across a metallic surface. Instead of scrapping the anomaly, the team leaned into the aesthetic, embarking on months of research to replicate the effect consistently. Vollebak dubbed the resulting pattern the “burnout effect”, a term that perfectly captures the speaker’s sci-fi edge.
Aesthetics aside, the Beosound 2 Vollebak Edition is a powerhouse in performance. It features 360-degree sound dispersion, made possible by Bang & Olufsen’s Acoustic Lens Technology, which radiates audio evenly throughout any room. Built-in proximity sensors and room calibration allow the speaker to optimize playback depending on its placement, ensuring high-fidelity sound whether it’s set in a corner, on a table, or on the floor.
But the collaboration isn’t limited to sound. Vollebak brought its own material experimentation to the table with the creation of the Anodized Jacket, a wearable counterpart to the speaker. The jacket is engineered from a lightweight polyamide ripstop that’s been fused with metal particles via galvanic treatment – a process often reserved for aerospace and military applications. The futuristic garment reflects up to 97% of body heat and helps evade infrared detection, placing it somewhere between survival gear and stealth tech.
Both pieces launched from the Spaceshop, a 1,000-kilogram mobile installation designed by Danish Space Architects SAGA. The structure itself is built from precision-engineered aluminum with panels finished to match the speaker’s burnout aesthetic. Inside, Bang & Olufsen’s Beolab 5 towers and Beosound 2 speakers create an immersive soundscape that transforms the space into something between retail environment and art installation.
Anodized Jacket
To learn more about the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2 Vollebak Edition, which is available made-to-order, visit vollebak.com.
Photography courtesy of Bang & Olufsen and Vollebak.