PRESS RELEASE
Limited-edition speakers auctioned in a benefit for UNICEF
Copenhagen, Denmark May 22nd 2013. Today, Scandinavian audio company Libratone, the award-winning wireless speaker company, unveiled its exclusive Libratone Fairytale Edition, a series of Libratone Zipp speakers hand-embroidered by Danish cartoonist Stine Spedsbjerg and inspired by the story of Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen. The "Fairytale Edition" will be available in limited quantities for European customers from June from the Libratone website (£429), and several of the speakers will also be auctioned on eBay, with proceeds going to UNICEF, the global children's charity organisation.
Libratone, a boundary-pushing brand whose products combine exceptional design and style with uncompromising audio quality, began its collaboration with Spedsbjerg at the Salone del Mobile furniture fair, at the Danish Chromatism exhibition in Milan earlier this year, when Spedsbjerg hand-embroidered selected scenes from Thumbelina on the speakers on display. The end result is a whimsical but elegant set of Zipp speaker covers that incorporates the signature Libratone nightingale, a symbol of freedom and purity of sound inspired by another Andersen tale.
"Speakers don't have to look like boring black boxes to sound good," says Libratone Creative Director, Kristian Krøyer. "Projects like the Fairytale Edition not only keep our products looking fresh, but also inspire us to literally think ‘outside the box' when we design our sound systems. Stine Spedsbjerg has been an important resource in that process and her beautiful, minimalistic cartoon universe is a perfect match for the fun and functional Zipp."
Stine Spedsbjerg is an award-wining Danish cartoonist whose spare style and warm drawings always elicit a smile. Her comic strip, "StineStregen" is an honest and humorous autobiographical strip about her daily experiences and challenges. In 2010 she won komiks.dk's price as "Best Web Comic" and has been nominated several times since.
"I saw the Libratone fairytale edition as a great opportunity to align my work with Libratone's mission to do something extraordinary in a market place dominated by me-too products," notes Spedsbjerg. "The Fairytale Edition is a wonderful mash-up of music, cartoons and fairytales - the result being a whole new form of expression in sound and art - I'm proud to be a part of this project."
Libratone Fairytale Edition: http://vimeo.com/66399939
Libratone Fairytale Edition, teaser video, Milan event: http://vimeo.com/66387649
The Libratone Fairytale Edition consists of five handmade Libratone Zipp speakers, representing different scenes from the Thumbelina fairytale. The speakers will be available in one of several ways, for a limited time only:
- Online contest - One Libratone Zipp Fairytale Edition will be awarded to a lucky winner who enters a contest on the Libratone website running until June 15, 2013 www.libratone.com/fairytalecompetition
- eBay auction - Four Fairytale Edition Zipps will be auctioned on Ebay one by one from May 22nduntil June 15 2013, with proceeds donated to UNICEF, for the benefit of children world wide.www.libratone.com/fairytale
- Online purchase (EU customers only) - 25 numbered Libratone Zipp speakers with handmade details from the original five "Libratone Fairytale Edition" will be sold on Libratone's European web store in June, 2013 (price: £429).
Libratone Zipp - It leaves the house
Specialist audio magazine What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision awarded Libratone Zipp 5 out of 5 stars and in January 2013 it was named the International CES Innovations Design and Engineering Awards honouree 2013 and won the prestigious "IF Product Design Award 2013". Libratone Zipp is an easy-to-use, wireless sound system wrapped in changeable Italian wool. It allows you to stream your favorite tunes via AirPlay and DLNA to your iPad, iPhone, Mac/computer or smartphone in WiFi areas, or take your wireless music with you, using PlayDirect technology that allows for music streaming everywhere. The minimalistic speaker provides up to eight hours of battery time and the patented FullRoom technology creates a 360° sound experience. Libratone Zipp is freedom - to go.
About Libratone
Libratone is a Copenhagen-based audio company that creates sound systems for today. That's it.
Our approach is a three-headed beast: Wireless technology, hi-fi quality, and Scandinavian design - in one sound source.
Our goal is to add a new high-end audio dimension to mobile devices and computers worldwide and to deliver an alternative to clumsy stereo systems and the wire-havoc they wreak. All without compromising the sound experience.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Libratone
Twitter: twitter.com/Libratone
