The Case for Fanatacism

For 80 years, groundbreaking aesthetics coupled with sci-fi features, such as a CD player that opens with the wave of a hand, or self-equalizing speakers, have given B&O products a magical quality that transcends the stylistic comings and goings of competitors. In the eyes of B&O's brain trust, making that happen boils down to a shocking, and shockingly simple, strategy: Design always wins.

"Personally, I have no influence on design," says B&O CEO Torben Ballegaard Sorensen, an always smiling, somehow exquisitely tan, square-jawed Dane. In other words, Sorensen, despite his business acumen (or because of it), serves as little more than a steward whose task it is to ensure that B&O's design process continues unfettered, as it has since the 1960s. Sorensen runs the company's operations, but he hands over control of product development and design to one superdominant personality--a freelance designer, no less.

Posted by James Zellmer at January 10, 2006 9:56 PM | Subscribe to this site via RSS:
Posted to Technology