Bang & Olufsen Global Retail Store Concept

Drawing on a legacy of innovative and foresighted design, we created the new store design concept for luxury consumer electronics brand Bang & Olufsen. The focus was in translating
the brand’s innate ability to create unexpected and magical user experiences into the overall retail experience.

One of the key considerations in the design process was the design’s modularity and scalability, so as to allow for easier flexibility and international expansion. The design team thus created an extremely streamlined modular system that ensures a high level of familiarity, whether you enter a store in New York, London or Shanghai. To accomplish this, the team created three ‘zones’ within the store, which enable easy implementation in spaces of various sizes.

The overhaul of the retail concept was one of Johannes Torpe’s first initiatives as Group Creative Director of Bang & Olufsen. The retail concept was conceptualised and designed by Johannes
Torpe Studios in collaboration with the creative team at Bang & Olufsen with the vision of creating ‘a mood altering sensory experience through design and sound’.

Elements of surprise and magic, a homely and relaxed atmosphere and the idea of ‘sound as hero’ were fundamental principles in the development of the new retail store concept for the legendary
Danish company Bang & Olufsen.

“We wanted to draw customers into the Bang & Olufsen universe and create an emotionally engaging experience that resembles the one you have when interacting with our products”, explains Johannes Torpe.

Throughout the company’s ninety years in the luxury electronics business, their products have intrigued, excited and surprised a global audience with the use of innovative and foresighted design solutions creating new and ‘magical’ user experiences. The design team dug into Bang & Olufsen’s design history and DNA in order to tap into the source of this ‘magic’. From this research came the inspiration for the design elements that form the final design. The result is a visual and audio playground for the affluent clientele and new generation of customers.

The retail store concept was in 2015 nominated for the prestigious ISG Retail Week Interior
Award in the category ‘Best Use of Design with Technology In-store’, cementing the design as one that challenges the common retail experience and succeeds in creating a compelling experience
for the store visitor.