Transparent
Transparent’s founders, Per Brickstad, Magnus Wiberg, and Martin Willers, are driven by a passion and curiosity to create products that are as much an interior design object as a great-sounding piece of technology. The brand name also stands for a desire for open, honest, and more sustainable business practices. Their design philosophy has won several awards over the years, among them the Wallpaper Design Awards.
In a landscape where tech is too often built to become obsolete, Transparent builds audio objects meant to age gracefully, evolve with the user, and resist the pressure of trend-driven consumption. Their modular, repairable architecture challenges the planned obsolescence embedded in most consumer electronics. But the brand’s mission stretches beyond product function — it speaks to a cultural shift in how we think about sound, silence, and sustainability.
How do you perceive the role of transparency in product design, not just in terms of aesthetics but also in ethical considerations?
Products should be shown for what they are. Today, we are often pushed to make quick purchase decisions based on a shiny surface, and often it proves to hide bad things below that shiny surface. Poor quality things with a short life span create a lot of waste, and we are then pushed to consume more. It seems to happen at an ever faster pace, and according to me, it is a broken system.
Transparent emphasises modularity to combat electronic waste. How would you approach designing a product that balances user customisation with environmental sustainability?
Modularity is one of the key pillars in our design philosophy. It ultimately lets the product evolve instead of becoming obsolete. We intend to design things that people end up modifying over time to suit their personal needs. It can depend on the size of your home, what wireless standard is in use, or some people even change the colours of things themselves to match their interior.
All this is possible due to the modular nature of the products. And by doing this, the products will stay relevant for a longer time. We see our first customers from 10 years ago upgrading their equipment to a mint condition object with the latest technology. It is fascinating to see, and hopefully, we can bring back this tradition of passing your valued items down to new generations. If the industry at large were to adapt to these principles, we would see a radical reduction of resource depletion, waste and pollution.
In an era where AI can generate design, sound, and even emotional resonance, how do you see the role of human intuition evolving within Transparent’s creative and technical processes?
I think we live in an amazing era of creative potential. AI offers great tools to explore many creative expressions, and the human intuition or curation in this is more relevant than ever.
What challenges have you faced and encountered in your process, and how did you ensure transparent communication throughout the process?
There are many challenges every day, but I find most things can be solved by staying calm, having an open mind and having an open conversation. Our products are quite special, and we need to take the time to make them come out right. We find that the projects with the biggest challenges can also prove the most rewarding in the end.
How do you envision audio objects transforming from functional devices into sculptural artefacts of our time, capable of being housed not only in homes but in galleries and archives?
Working with loudspeakers is a wonderful creative privilege, because we get to pay tribute to that wonderful phenomenon that music is. Our products should channel the true intention of the musician and play it back in an authentic manner. We design our objects not only to perform well technically, but to be actual manifestations of the phenomenon of music. And therefore, I believe many people find artistic qualities in them.
With the rapid advancement of audio technology, how do you stay informed and ensure that your designs remain both innovative and aligned with Transparent's minimalist aesthetic?
It all comes down to the modular design philosophy. Designing things in a minimalist manner with these modular principles in mind is not easy, but when done right, it can result in products that transcend both technology and trends. We work with the essential elements in a product, and let them be the centre of attention, this way aiming towards something beyond what is only trending right now. The concept of time is deeply intertwined in the things we do at Transparent.
Where do you see the future of sustainable consumer electronics heading, and how do you envision contributing to this evolution within a company like Transparent?
We are working towards an industry where all hardware comes from recycled raw materials and where all products made can become better with time instead of becoming obsolete. We believe we have a kind of recipe for this, but we have a long way to go still. Both in Transparent, but definitely in the tech category as a whole.
What are the hidden ethical frictions in fusing AI with sound, and how can companies like Transparent avoid falling into the trap of creating emotionally manipulative technology?
Just like our design philosophy aims to tackle the systematic issues in the tech industry, We believe there is a need in the music industry to address, on a systemic level, how musicians might be exploited by AI. Technology and AI can be powerful creative tools, but in the music industry, there are often individuals who become exploited, it seems.
What role does silence play in your design philosophy? In an age of noise—both literal and digital—how can silence be designed into our technological environments?
Silence is not just the absence of sound; it is a state of serenity. Sometimes there is a need for some sound to make it feel more silent than actual silence. And I often listen to a soundscape that makes my mind more silent, compared to sitting in a silent room. So it is all about perspective and balance.
In this time of noise, like you say, there is a bigger need than ever to create room for personal reflection. Mindless activity will eventually tear you down, and time to reflect can lead to actions to create new and more deliberate routines. I need both times of noise and the times of silence. But everyone has to find their balance.
If Transparent were to create an object not for this world, but for a post-human, post-carbon, or extraterrestrial civilisation, what would it look or sound like?
I love human perception, the sensory system that puts us in the world. But I often think about how limited our perception is compared to the reality that exists beyond our human senses. It simply fascinates me how we are accessing a very narrow section of the visible and hearable frequency spectrum, and how it would feel if one could access a broader range. See new colours or hear new sounds. Theoretically, we can make loudspeakers for ears that hear ultra-infrasound frequencies.. That would be an interesting project for Transparent.
Where do you see the future of sustainable consumer electronics heading, and how do you envision contributing to this evolution within a company like Transparent?
We are working towards an industry where all hardware comes from recycled raw materials and where all products made can become better with time instead of becoming obsolete. We believe we have a kind of recipe for this, but we have a long way to go still. Both in Transparent, but definitely in the tech category as a whole.
What are the hidden ethical frictions in fusing AI with sound, and how can companies like Transparent avoid falling into the trap of creating emotionally manipulative technology?
Just like our design philosophy aims to tackle the systematic issues in the tech industry, I believe there is a need in the music industry to address on a systemic level how musicians might be exploited from AI. Technology and AI can be powerful creative tools, but in the music industry there are often individuals that end up becoming exploited.
Interview by JAGRATI MAHAVER
What to read next
