Bang & Olufsen Celebrates Beoplay A9's 10th Anniversary With Ferrari Sheppard Collaboration

Any audiophile knows that a good speaker makes the home a sensory musical experience, and often leading the pack on both quality and design fronts is the luxury Danish brand, Bang & Olufsen. Today, in celebration of the Beoplay A9‘s 10th anniversary, Bang & Olufsen reveals its collaboration with the vinyl lifestyle curator 12on12 and the multidisciplinary abstract artist Ferrari Sheppard, enlisting the latter to create a unique cover for B&O’s iconic home speaker — featuring his 2021 piece My Name is Sarah.

12on12 has built a reputation for giving musical talents a different kind of canvas to wax lyrical, bringing them back to the vinyl format where they’re allowed to also get visually and artistically creative. As a result, it has produced a number of limited-edition art-cover vinyls, just like the one that comes alongside this drop.

Swizz Beatz — a major stakeholder in 12on12 — has selected one of Ferrari Sheppard’s artworks and has turned it into a limited-edition re-run of his vinyl Long Live Jazz!, which in many ways echoes the gold tones underpinned by Sheppards’ artwork with its smooth, rich sound.

Speaking on the project, Beatz said: “This is the perfect combo between art and jazz. Ferrari is a creative force to the art world. His work makes you feel something special! It moves your soul and mind. Jazz is a creative force to music. When these two come together it creates healing, love, peace, and fun times. Long Live Art and Long Live Jazz.”

Writer Kristina Kay Robinson said of the piece, “My Name is Sarah is a beautiful mystery. Much like jazz, its possibilities are infinite. Sheppard’s complex multiplicity of strokes and linework offers each its independence while working in unison to create the painting’s universe of form.”

Only 40 speakers are to be made, while there will only be 12 limited-edition hand-finished prints by the artist and on the outer jacket of the second issue of Long Live Jazz!, coming alongside 30 hand-finished pieces by the artist.

For Bang & Olufsen this is just the start, as it commences its “Art of the A9” series that will continue to bring artists to the iconic speaker. Take a look at the Ferrari Sheppard-penned one above, and pick one up from select Bang & Olufsen showrooms from November 29 for $3,799 USD.

In other news, Hypebeast recently got its hands on the Apple Watch Ultra.