How a Furniture Designer Rethought Guitar Amps for Homes and Ditched Ugly Boxes

Guitar amps are built to survive tours, not to sit in a living room. Sonoforma, a young company founded by furniture designer Mike Nopper, rethinks the guitar amp as home furniture: a teak cabinet that looks like a mid-century side table or credenza, with a studio-grade speaker inside.

A designer between pro audio and furniture

Nopper has a background in design engineering for professional audio and in leadership roles in the furniture industry. He kept seeing the same problem in musicians’ homes: great sound in ugly boxes made to be thrown into vans. His answer was to keep the musical performance, drop the road-gear look and make the amp part of the interior.

Solid teak in three stains

The look takes its cue from 1970s hi-fi consoles, with curved inside corners, soft radii and clean hardware. The cabinets are made of 100% solid teak, not veneer, FSC certified and sustainably harvested in Nicaragua, where a replanting programme supports the sourcing. They are built in a dedicated fine furniture factory in Nicaragua by craftspeople who normally make heirloom case goods. Three stains are offered: Claro, Rosado and Oscuro.

Real guitar speakers inside

The cabinets are closed-back, with an inset baffle that focuses the sound. Players plug in with a standard 1/4-inch jack and play through Celestion drivers: a Vintage 30 G12 in the larger model and a G10 Greenback in the smaller one.

Two models

• Serenada is a console that reads as a classic credenza, 55 inches wide, 21 deep and 33 high. A felt-lined drawer of 49 x 17 x 5 inches is long enough to hold a full guitar, and storage behind soft-close doors measures 32 x 20 x 14 inches. Blum hardware provides undermount slides and soft-close hinges.
• Rhapsody is a nightstand or side table, 21.5 inches wide, 19 deep and 27 high, with a 17.5 x 14 x 5.5 inch drawer. Its front can show the driver or be covered with a fabric grille.

Details for living with gear

Lined drawers stop a guitar from rattling or getting scratched, and rounded edges are kinder in tight rooms. A slim, leggy footprint lets light pass underneath so the pieces do not look heavy. Because they are furniture first, a Rhapsody can stand where an end table would, and a Serenada can sit under framed art like a media console, with the guitar and cables stored inside.

Who it is for

The idea suits musicians who record in a spare room or practise in a shared living space. Sonoforma sums up its aim as “making sound look good”: gear that can stay set up and ready to play without taking over the room.

Credits

• Product: Serenada and Rhapsody guitar amp furniture
• Brand: Sonoforma
• Designer and founder: Mike Nopper
• Images: courtesy of Sonoforma
• Source: Contemporist