Working between art, architecture and sound, our practice begins with an interest in how people inhabit space: how we gather, how we listen, what we touch, and the objects and rituals through which we form relationships with one another.

We approach design as a cultural practice rather than a question of style. A loudspeaker can be an acoustic instrument, a piece of furniture, an architectural element and an expression of where and how it was made. A listening room can similarly become more than a technically resolved interior; it can create new rituals around music, hospitality and gathering.

Our work is informed by our different backgrounds and a shared sensitivity towards material, atmosphere and place. We are interested in the tension between the technical and the emotional: engineering and intuition, performance and beauty, permanence and experimentation.

Sound has become one of the principal mediums through which we explore these questions. It allows us to work simultaneously at the scale of the object, the room and the social experience. Our projects move between high-fidelity loudspeakers, furniture, listening environments, installations and research.

Material is equally important. We are interested in what already exists around us: local industries, overlooked resources, traditional knowledge and contemporary manufacturing. Rather than applying culture as decoration, we look for ways in which geography and culture can fundamentally inform how something is conceived, made and ultimately experienced.

Banou is therefore not defined by a single discipline or aesthetic. It is an evolving practice built around curiosity, collaboration and making.

We make objects and spaces for listening. and use listening as a way of thinking about how we might live together.