LAS VEGAS — The iTamtam is perhaps the strangest iPod dock yet conceived — but also the most practical. It’s a sturdy iPod speaker that doubles as a stool. It is based on a famous stool from the sixties that’s now featured in the Museum of Modern Art.
“It’s a speaker you can sit on,” said Patrick Parma, a spokesman for Branex Design, the Parisian firm that holds the rights for the Tam Tam stool.
The seat was updated as a speaker for its 40th anniversary. Called the iTamtam, the speaker/stool has an iPod/iPhone dock on top and a pair of 25-watt speakers built under the seat.
“We wanted to try to evolve the product,” explained Parma, who looked conspicuously stylish at CES. “We looked to the Apple world, because we are big admirers of Apple’s design, and came up with the idea. Apple corresponds very closely with what we are doing.”
The original Tam Tam stool was introduced in 1968 by French designer Henry Massonnet. Made of plastic, at the time a new material for furniture makers, the stool was made famous by an iconic photo of the French sexpot Brigitte Bardot sitting on one. The stool is still produced in the same French factory using the original mold.
The iTeamtam comes in a range of colors matching Apple’s iPod nano line. “They are Apple’s colors, not ours,” said Parma. “We licensed them.”
Branex’s booth was full of the nano-colored speaker stools. They were a big hit with passersby.
“They look cool as hell,” said Thelvis Alston, a CES show-goer as he stopped to admire the iTamtams.
The iTamtam is already on sale in Europe. Branex was at CES looking for U.S. distributor. The company hopes to shortly start selling two versions in the U.S.: a $399 model that plugs into the wall; and a $429 version with a built-in rechargeable battery.
