Period Telephone Audio Point – The Design Museum

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We were commissioned to retrofit a phone from this time period to function as an audio point. Visitors are now able to enter a number on the rotary dial to activate various stories. The unit was also built into a faux coin operated machine to better appear as a public telephone would have in the 70s.

Known as the world’s leading contemporary design museum, the London-based (aptly named) ‘Design Museum’ is multifaceted – offering an ever-changing exhibition space for visitors to explore the past, present and future of design.

Period Telephone audio point at The Design Museum

One such temporary exhibition was Blitz: the club that shaped the 80’s, and it’s here you’ll find a bespoke addition from us at Blackbox-av. During the late 70’s (long before mobile phones) people would have to wait for landline calls to find out where the next party would be held, and the Design Museum wanted to share stories of people from this time through a similar means.

We were therefore commissioned to retrofit a phone from this time period to function as an audio point. Visitors are now able to enter a number on the rotary dial to activate various stories. The unit was also built into a faux coin operated machine to better appear as a public telephone would have in the 70s.

‘Waiting by the landline’ is a clever way to bring audio to the exhibition, not only does it allow access to intriguing stories from the past, but it introduces younger visitors a technology that’s probably forgotten – inserting actual coins into telephones to make phone calls!