For the Audiophile with a taste for good design(looks)....a question.

I’ve always felt that Musical Fidelity equipment was nice looking, even though I don’t have any.
McIntosh and Pass Labs gear is always great looking. Dodd preamps sound and look good. Most tube gear is cool especially in the evening.
I think it’s a combination of good sounding gear, stands, room treatment, organization and decoration. The system I idolize the most on Audiogon is by Lalitk, he calls it “A slice of Heaven”. His combination of cool gear and room treatment is outstanding. I’d love to hear it.

I privately study modern (post 1950) product and interior design. Hi-Fi design is of particular interest. To my eyes two Hi-Fi brands are at the pinnacle of design, where form meets function in perfect industrial design.

1. Naim ’olive’ series. This was the Naim design in the 1990s when they were arguably at their peak. So simple, so perfect. The ultimate interpretation of the stripped down ’black box’.  Naim were ahead of the curve: their minimalist design which had been part of their DNA since the 70s, was not embraced into wider product design until Johnny Ive created the iPod and Apple made the look ubiquitous. Clean minimalistic interiors moved out of Scandinavia into the rest of Europe in the late 1990s - whilst Naim were there already. 

2. Vitus electronics. To the OP - you will know better than anyone the beauty of Scandinavian design if you ran a shop selling it, and to me the Danish Vitus brand is the epitome of sleek, cool, minimalist Scandinavian design. And even better, they make the best sounding amps I have ever heard!

Solid Tech - Rack of Silence Reference 4!!! 

My home is designed in an "ultra-modern" way.
1. The Focal Sopra No 2 including center and sub are a very striking piece of speaker art, and have great sound too.
2. The Dalie Menuet SE is a beautiul small speaker that makes a bold statement, along with impressive sound for such a small package.
3. The Devialet Phantom Gold with Oak Stand doubles as both sculpture and audiophile heaven, especially on the bass.
My audio equipment is spaced throughout my home, and is often seen while it is not in use. My goal was to "have it all," looks and sound. I believe that my system is getting there.

Well, back in the day, Bang and Olufsen was the "design" audio company.  Their stuff was middle-of-the-road in sound and it broke pretty much like the rest of the stuff in that sound range, but it was pretty. 

We made some oak stands for it that we sold to our customers who wanted their stuff to be seen, but we were in the custom cabinet business as well, so we did like to sell the wall units and free-standing stuff more.

I don't follow them any more, but in the '70s and '80's we sold a ton of their stuff, and it was "designed" by people into Scandinavian design.

We also kept a Transcriptor TT in out shop; it does not actually play records, but it is pretty!

Cheers!