For the 2019 Designs of the Year Exhibition at the Design Museum, I nominated the FREKVENS hifi by Teenage Engineering for IKEA.
Then I was asked to put all my thoughts into 100 words.
Frekvens by IKEA, nomination text by Ben Hughes
It means ‘frequency’ in Swedish. So far so IKEA, although this series comprising turntable, speaker and lighting has been created in collaboration with Teenage Engineering — the designers and engineers behind cult devices such as the OP‑1 and Pocket Operator (highly capable synthesisers/sequencers that incorporate deliberately playful interfaces); objects that radiate with audio geek cachet. The aesthetic for this new project for IKEA is part Sottsass/Bellini-era Olivetti and part vintage Dr Who props department. Here at last is a hifi that lives up to the lo-fi aspirations of a generation discovering vinyl for the first time.
100 words
