For five decades, UK-based hi-fi brand Rega has been manufacturing world-class turntables. For many years, the brand has done several artist and music collaborations, including the likes of National Artist Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera and The Eraserheads.
Just recently, Rega partnered with Fundacion Sansó — dubbed Sansó x Rega — with a grand launch attended by art collectors, media and vinyl enthusiasts. The museum’s galleries were transformed into music lounges with beautiful Sansó Breton House paintings from a private collection and contemporary vignettes from luxe German furniture brand KARE. “Upbeat Luxe,” “Chillout Lounge” and “Resort Vibe”-themed lounging areas complemented the Rega Turntables’ music courtesy of The Vinyl Lab Records.
Rega Philippines’ Stephanie Gan talked about the history of Rega and demonstrated the dynamic sound quality of the Sansó x Rega Turntable. This latest collaboration and limited-edition Sansó x Rega featuring Presidential Medal of Merit Awardee Juvenal Sansó’s iconic painting, Impact of Creation, will please both art enthusiasts and audiophiles alike. Issued by Fundacion Sansó, each turntable system comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. It is not only as a musical tool but as a decorative and highly covetable object.
Fundacion Sansó chose the colorful and charming Sansó’s iconic Breton Housework Impact of Creation as the motif for the collaboration. The motif is printed using high-resolution, large-format printers onto the turntable itself.
“The Breton House Series is an important part of Sansó’s artistic career, as he only created these paintings in the late 1990s and 2000s, in his senior years, as it represented a time when he felt most secure and happy in his life and work,” Fundacion Sansó director Ricky Francisco said.
Stemming from Sanso’s early Breton House lithographs that he initially made in the 1970s, the artist’s visits to Brittany and his friendship with the Le Dantec family were both part of his healing phase from his World War II traumas. The resulting Breton House paintings, which portray whimsical Brittany houses dotting the coastline, azure skies and seas — and fishing boats in the foreground — are charming and painted in cheerful colors, giving the works an optimistic vibe.
The turntable goes beyond being a collectible. Part of the proceeds of each Sansó x Rega purchase will go to the study grants for art students of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. Sansó is also a UP Fine Arts alumni, as it is his mission to help art students achieve their dreams. Sansó himself secretly gave scholarships from his own pocket and without taking any credit to select UP Fine Arts students.