The Vinyl Frontier: USM and Symbol deliver tailored audio furniture with high fidelity

Renowned Swiss furniture brand USM has announced an upcoming collaboration with vinyl storage and audio furniture specialist Symbol, featuring four storage collections. Utilising USM’s iconic modular components, selected from the company’s broad catalogue of custom parts by the Symbol team, the new pieces incorporate classic elements of USM’s design aesthetic with Symbol’s honed approach to showcasing and storing vinyl. As Symbol’s managing director Walker Tovin puts it: 'We’re playing in their [USM’s] sandbox, uncovering specific pieces… iterating and exploring, and finding patterns to create new designs.'

USM x Symbol Vinyl Storage Cabinet: design-led audio furniture

Ranging from vinyl storage cabinets (to record stands and crates, the collections are available in a variety of sizes; with colours in the classic USM palette, the option to integrate dimmable lighting, and tailored compartments to house all manner of audio equipment, including Sonos speakers, amplifiers, and record players.

The USM x Symbol Vinyl Storage Cabinet also has the ability to link with other pieces, fostering customers’ appetites as their love of vinyl, and their record collection, expands (the growing vinyl revival is underlined by the recent release of Montana’s ‘Spin’ colourful vinyl storage cabinets).

Setting an international benchmark for office and home furniture with the Fritz Haller collaboration in the 1960s, USM’s modular design has historically enabled clients to customise their furniture from a wide array of component parts, boasting a timelessness and versatility that quickly became the brand’s hallmark.

Allowing furniture to be shaped to fit a variety of spaces and functions, this modular thinking is at the heart of the new collaboration, having driven Tovin and the Symbol team in a unique creative direction: 'USM’s components work in every conceivable environment, from retail to residential, from office spaces to a loft in Paris, or a farmhouse in upstate New York… a dream come true for people who love this stuff.'

Symbol’s involvement is a natural evolution of this adaptive design; bringing it to the audio storage space to please both hardcore vinyl enthusiasts and those simply looking for a way to showcase their favourite records. Interpreting the USM catalogue with a strong vision became an essential part of the process, shaping the final product with this polyvalence of uses in mind.

'We've got record-store flip bins, we've got swivel bins that pull down, we've got file drawers that pull out and everything… a mix of applications that work for people with giant collections and something more fitting for those who want to display the artwork.'

The key element to Symbol’s philosophy is the desire to bridge the gap between traditional spaces for vinyl storage and wider interiors, incorporating an enthusiasm for records into the home at large. This ethos underscores the entire collaboration, deploying USM’s proven sense for adaptability with a passion for audio furniture nurtured over Symbol’s own budding history.

Together, they hope to produce designs that will have an enduring impact, with pieces that have been made to last. In Tovin’s words: 'Timeless design is just good design; they're sort of interchangeable. USM has proven that they’re timeless because they've had the time to do it, and we hope that we'll have that opportunity too.'

symbolaudio.com
usm.com