Deconstructing Product Design

BeoCom 2 Phone

David Lewis and Bang & Olufsen, 2000

1. As much sculptural piece as cordless phone, the Beocom 2 phone challenges virtually every phone design convention, from footprint to form to keypad. With a price approaching $1,000, the phone is not intended for everyone, and clearly targets a consumer willing to pay for design and status in their everyday items. Peter Eckhardt, managing director of Bang & Olufsen Telecom, comments: “With a design that is an open invitation to be picked up by a human hand, BeoCom 2 is proof that just because the telephone has become an everyday object, it doesn’t have to be invisible.”
2. The body is a single tubular piece of aluminum formed into a gentle arc to conform to the face. The seamless metal body ...