Why Sennheiser's brand chief is bringing London's underground club scene to the top of the Shard
by https://www.creativebloq.com/author/tom-may · Creative Bloq
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fabric London has spent almost three decades building its reputation in a windowless basement near London's Smithfield Market; the kind of place where the sound system matters more than the view. So there's something a little ironic about its next chapter unfolding at The View from The Shard, in Western Europe's tallest building.
This contrast sits at the heart of an expanded partnership between fabric and Sennheiser, the German audio brand behind some of the best wired headphones and best Bluetooth headphones in the industry, which kicks off on 21 August with a performance from electronic music pioneer Sven Väth.
Behind the apparent mismatch is a simple lesson for anyone building a brand. Namely that credibility isn't something you can borrow for a campaign – it has to be built into the partnership itself. We spoke to Itamar Marom, brand partnership manager at Sennheiser, to learn more.
An unlikely pairing, on purpose
Why Sennheiser wanted fabric London specifically, says Itamar, came down to a question of authenticity. "fabric has exceptional credibility in electronic music and club culture, while Sennheiser brings decades of professional audio expertise," he points out. "And audiences increasingly expect brands to show up authentically inside culture, not just communicate from the outside."
That's also his reasoning for putting an underground brand in one of the most elevated rooms in the country (quite literally). Rather than dilute the club's identity, he sees their Shard shows as proof that it travels. "fabric brings underground cultural credibility into an unexpected setting, while the location creates a completely new context for experiencing sound," he explains. "That shows how professional audio culture can move beyond traditional club environments without losing authenticity."
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The partnership isn't just about venues, though. It also runs through Orii Community, a London-based music collective, live jam platform and registered Community Interest Company (CIC) founded in 2021 by Charlie Fenemer and Fred N'Thepe (Neue Grafik) to unite underground jazz, electronic and creative artists. "Orii gives us access to a community and talent pool we wouldn't reach in the same authentic way through traditional marketing," says Itamar.
Itamar Marom
Itamar Marom leads brand partnerships at Sennheiser, developing campaigns that connect the audio brand with cultural institutions and communities, including fabric London and the Orii Community. His work sits at the intersection of professional and consumer audio storytelling, bridging the gap between DJ booths and everyday listeners.
A seriously limited edition
Sennheiser's product line-up for this campaign is a study in contrasts of its own: the HD 25, the battle-tested wired headphones that have lived in DJ booths for more than 30 years, alongside the MOMENTUM 5 Wireless, a consumer headphone built for daily listening. Itamar's job is to make both feel like part of the same story.
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"A professional DJ and a consumer listener may use different products, but both care about how music feels, how it travels with them and how reliable the product is," he reflects. "The role of storytelling is to connect those worlds naturally rather than forcing them together, from professional creation and performance to everyday listening."
Part of that connection will come through behind-the-scenes content, pulling back the curtain on decisions audiences never normally see. When asked what excites him most, he responds: "How a venue is prepared, how engineers adapt to different rooms, how monitoring choices are made, and how artists and technical teams work together before a performance. That makes professional audio knowledge much more accessible and gives the partnership value beyond a single event."
The most tangible link between the two worlds is a special fabric Edition of the MOMENTUM 5 Wireless, which is about as limited-edition as merchandise gets: only ten pairs are being made. Each will carry a look designed by fabric itself, and none will be for sale. The only way to acquire a pair is by entering the prize draws that fabric will host during the next few months.
That scarcity feels deliberate: a small, symbolic object standing in for a much bigger idea. That the same brand can sit comfortably in a club basement and at the top of Western Europe's tallest building, without sounding like it's trying too hard to belong in either.