As evidenced by the near idolatry that his new SAYL office chair for Herman Miller seems to have engendered, it's quite clear that anything at the hands of industrial designer Yves Behar turns to gold. Which is exactly why, if you were looking for someone to conceive the look and feel of a minuscule wireless speaker—one that also converts your voice to text messages or to Tweets—Behar would be just the man for the job. That's exactly the course taken by personal-tech firm Aliph, creator of those sleek Jawbone headsets. Its newest product, Jambox, is a hand-held-teeny wireless speaker whose rectangular body measures less than 6 inches long, weighs about 12 ounces, and streams audio from any Bluetooth device (phone, iPod, iPad, computer) within a 33-foot range. But perhaps what's most fascinating is the look of the thing itself, a delightfully wacky statement in metal and colored rubber. It's almost as if Behar has combined age-old decorative traditions like folding and tufting with a classic '80s boombox, turning out a thoroughly modern portable product. The method to the madness? "The perforated metal grills are wrapped 360 degrees around the product," explains Behar. "By being made of one single part, we minimize vibration and provide structural integrity." Jambox is available in four grid patterns that were inspired by soundproofing textures—glimpse the others after the jump—and will be sold at Apple stores and online ($199) starting Nov. 16, just in time for the holidays.
· Yves Behar's New SAYL Chair Descends From on High [Curbed National]
· Jawbone [official site]
· Apple [official site]