Did you know that David Lewis soon shall retired?

nothing official yet 

Interesting!

Is it someone internal? external? if so will this lead to an overhaul of B&O deisgn?

That is VERY interesting!! I wonder who will be his successor? I think its a good thing! I'm not too pleased with his latest offerings

well, i got to know b&o while it was designed by david lewis. i'm to young for the jacob jensen area. though i really love david lewis' designs, i think it is a good thing for b&o to change the direction a little. a new designer will sure have new ideas, may be introduce new materials, but sure have a difficult job as successor to one of the main reasons for b&o's success of the last decades.

It is time for a change.  Maybe Jonathan Ive will take up the challenge.  After all he too is British,  I wonder if he speaks Danish? :-)  

I think David Lewis has done, and is still doing an excellent job!

However, much as we have to come to terms with it, nothing lasts forever.  The man (or woman) that replaces him will have a huge pair of boots to fill....

 
Lee
 

expoman:

It is time for a change.  Maybe  will take up the challenge.  After all he too is British,  I wonder if he speaks Danish? :-)  

 

I hummed and ahhed over this one.... I love his work but is he B&O? Hes too mainstream for my liking, hence the popularity of his products....

I would love Chris Bangle to have a go at something!!! but I have a feeling that this will goto one of lewis's current group of designers.

expoman:

It is time for a change.  Maybe Jonathan Ive will take up the challenge.  After all he too is British,  I wonder if he speaks Danish? :-)  

 Ive? B&O going to plastics, then? Or aluminium with a coat of painting.

 Anders Hermansen did the A8 headphones, among a few other things. Hermansen might be an interesting one to pick up the mantle. I'm curious about the Lewis-bashers here, though. The man's delivered a series of icons during his watch over the brand expression. Kudos to him!

 

9 LEE:

I think David Lewis has done, and is still doing an excellent job!

However, much as we have to come to terms with it, nothing lasts forever.  The man (or woman) that replaces him will have a huge pair of boots to fill....

 
Lee
 

Jacob Jenson set a benchmark for David Lewis and he in turn has done so for whoever follows him.

Can't wait to see who takes on the job, I feel sure B&O will look to the long term again though, so an internal candidate used to the ways of B&O would be likely. 

i remember a "potential canditate" to take up david lewis' job: there was a member on the old forum i think his name was turbo or thomasz (can't find him in the members list) who made some very good product studies on Beo4, BL9...

Kevin:

Jacob Jenson set a benchmark for David Lewis and he in turn has done so for whoever follows him.

Can't wait to see who takes on the job, I feel sure B&O will look to the long term again though, so an internal candidate used to the ways of B&O would be likely. 

I'm asking myself what kind of B&O would we have today without an era Jacob Jensen ? But again we shouldn't focus to much on David Lewis ,he's just a part of a huge team. Important is to sustain the design philosophy.

Gatex:

Kevin:

Jacob Jenson set a benchmark for David Lewis and he in turn has done so for whoever follows him.

Can't wait to see who takes on the job, I feel sure B&O will look to the long term again though, so an internal candidate used to the ways of B&O would be likely. 

I'm asking myself what kind of B&O would we have today without an era Jacob Jensen ? But again we shouldn't focus to much on David Lewis ,he's just a part of a huge team. Important is to sustain the design philosophy.

 I may have misunderstood your post, but David Lewis is not a part of a huge team. He runs an independent design atelier together with close associates, and works in a very independent and idiosyncratic manner. B&O buys his services, but have given him a high degree of control and say-so over the products, in order to preserve the design expression.

Jensen built on his past, and Lewis built on Jensen's creations.

The BeoVision 3 was designed by committee, by marketing input when "research" showed that the Avant was considered too large. So they chopped the Avant in half and ended up with the BV3. That's probably the only "huge team" product to leave B&O, and it was instantly denigrated as "not B&O" when it reached the market.

As anyone, I have my issues with B&O design, but Lewis is getting a rough ride here. If he only designed the BL8000, BL4000, BL5, BL3, BC2, MX, BV5 series, Ouverture -- well, I'm running out of space here ... The guy's done a great job for the brand -- and not with a "huge" team. A few close collaborators, and a lot of cardboard models.

I agree, I think B&O have been very fortunate to have two designers who were able to set such high standards (benchmarks), bar one or two minor hiccups.

Remember David Lewis was the Video designer and Jacob Jensen was the Audio designer in the 80's.  The Beovision 3 really does look like it was designed by a committee.  I always thought it looked Sonyish.  Did it sell?  I would guess never as well as the MX which was David's best designs.  The Avant, AV 5, Beocenter 1, Beovision 3 never met the sales volumn of the MX.  Only the Beovision 7 has met the challenge.