After he completed his Masters degree at the Institut Supérieur de Design in his home country, Maxence Derremaux left France for San Francisco, which he describes as "the intersection of art and commerce, high style and DIY, globabl awareness and local engagement." His concept for a new approach to earbud assembly, a personal project with a certain high-end audio company in mind, recently caught my eye.
Citing headphones' general lack of repairability, Derremaux set out to design a more versatile earbud, figuratively dismantling the glue-based assembly process of cheap 'phones.
The result is indeed worthy of B&O: the geometric form factor is based on a keystone-like wedge, which slots into a Y-shaped clamp element. Additional images in his personal website illustrate the parts—a series of rings, spacers, plates and caps—which strike me as perfect candidates for 3D-printable replacement parts.
