Tokyo design studio Fragment reimagines Bang & Olufsen icons

For most musicians, sound quality is everything. For Hiroshi Fujiwara, it’s the foundation of a legacy. As one of the DJs who helped redefine Tokyo nightlife in the 1980s, introducing hip-hop to the city, he’s always had one thing by his side. Bang & Olufsen.

“Since building my home around Bang & Olufsen’s integrated sound system in the 1990s, the brand has been my first choice for audio,” he explains. Now, he’s putting his signature stamp on Bang & Olufsen gear with a limited-edition collaboration between the Danish audio icon and his design studio Fragment.

Reworking four classic Bang & Olufsen pieces – the portable Beosound A1 speaker, Beoplay H100 headphones, the architectural Beosound Shape system, and the timeless Beosystem 9000c – in Fragment’s signature shade: black. “This collaboration has been a long-time dream of mine,” he explains.

Since 1955, aluminium has defined Bang & Olufsen’s design language, becoming a signature material across its headphones and speakers. For this collaboration, the designers push that legacy further than ever. They use a specialised anodisation and hand-polishing process to transform the metal into a high-gloss finish, reimagining it in Fragment’s signature black

“We applied a highly artisanal anodization and polishing process for the first time on our portable products as part of the Fragment Design collaboration,” says Bang & Olufsen’s Senior Director of Design, Kresten Bjørn Krab-Bjerre. “This meticulous approach brings ‘ Fragment’s signature black to life through a finish only achievable by hand”.

As the ultimate seal of approval from the DJ, Fragment’s signature double lightning bolt runs across the collaboration – marking its limited-edition status for collectors and music aficionados alike

Learn more about the collection bang-olufsen.com ahead of its global release on 3 June.