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When tradition and tech collide, you turn it up. 🔊

Bill Amberg x Teenage Engineering

English craftsman Bill Amberg was raised with the value of material instilled in him since childhood — which you already know if you caught our exclusive interview with the creator.

METCHA - Bill Amberg - Teenage Engineering - the OB-4 case, a black leather bag that accommodates the acoustic of Teenage Engineering's radio

Never underestimating the power and capabilities of quality leather, Amberg seeks to push the material to its fullest boundaries with experimental projects that challenge tradition while honoring its techniques. In collaboration with Swedish electronics company, Teenage Engineering, Amberg approached one of his greatest challenges: to marry the deeply heritage-charged roots of his signature leathercraft with today's most cutting-edge sound technology.

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METCHA - Bill Amberg - Teenage Engineering - Bill Amberg working on the OB-4 Case leather bag

Walking the line between objective science and human sensation, the OB-4 Case was born: an elegantly handstitched leather bag that accommodate the acoustic power of Teenage Engineering's latest radio. Scroll for Amberg's insight on the process.

METCHA - Bill Amberg - Teenage Engineering - the OB-4 Case leather bag in detail

"Technology doesn't engage several human senses, one being touch — it can be difficult to make a piece of technology feel good to hold. It also lacks the tactile sensibility of smell and the emotional response of physical closeness. Bringing these feelings into technology is difficult, and what Teenage Engineering realized is how leather can convey the warm, sensitive, kind feeling of skin-on-skin touch."

"Those sensations plus cutting-edge technology make for a very interesting combination. It transforms something cold into something sexy. It's a fallacy to think that technology has nothing to do with craft, of course it does! Even if robots were involved in some of the construction elements of this beautifully crafted speaker, a human made it first — all we are doing is adding new techniques. I used vegetable-tanned bridle leather and hand stitching elements from saddlery, and layered them on top of this absolutely new Swedish technology — and they go together perfectly."

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METCHA - Bill Amberg - Teenage Engineering - the OB-4 Case leather bag in detail

METCHA - Bill Amberg - Teenage Engineering - a man working in the OB-4 Case leather bag

METCHA - Bill Amberg - Teenage Engineering - a woman working in the OB-4 Case leather bag

More for you: read how Amberg tackled a high-tech auto industry collab here.

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