Clairtone

Clairtone Sound Corporation Limited was a manufacturer of high-quality sound electronics and accessories based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1958 by Canadian-Hungarian electronics engineer and businessman Peter Munk with furniture designer David Gilmour, the company established an international reputation for stereo and cabinetry design in the 1960s. It had failed little more than a decade later but in its heyday it made a notable contribution to the field of consumer electronics. The most famous Clairtone design was the "Project G" series designed by Hugh Spencer. It featured black globe speakers, with a wood cabinet and introduced the now-standard modular approach to consumer audio that offered a dramatic departure from boxy cabinet design popular until that time. The Project G won a medal at the Milan Triannale as well as a Canada Design Council Award of Excellence. Clairtone earned a reputation for combining futuristic designs with quality materials, and marketing them well. It opened its first international sales office in New York in 1960 and later hired Frank Sinatra as a pitchman.