The amazing JukeCase store in Collingwood!  Custom postie bike by Postmodern Motorcycles.  Photo - Sean Fennessy.

Custom JukeCase with customised postie bike by Postmodern Motorcycles.  Photo - Sean Fennessy.

Rubin Utama and Vincent Corneille outside their Collingwood store.  Photo - Sean Fennessy.

I have a real softspot for Melbourne hipsters.  Especially entrepreneurial hipsters. They are the best kind!  I'm not sure where this blog would be without the earnest entrepreneurial spirit of the clever and slightly crazy kids who populate our creative city... like the two we are about to meet!

Vincent Corneille and Rubin Utama went to high school together in Melbourne, and after what they describe as 'a brief period of loathing each other', were drawn together by their similar interests - a love of music, good friends and the outdoors.  It's these shared interests which have also inspired their joint venture - the JukeCase!

'Music can mean a lot more when it is shared and enjoyed with others' explains Vincent. 'A strange consequence of the popularity of portable MP3 players is an increasing sense of isolation - headphones on, we can sink into our own universe of music and comfortably shy away the world' he continues.  Conversely, the JukeCase is about portable music that is social.

Vincent says the first JukeCase came about out of necessity.  'I had a challenge - how can we make high-quality audio portable?' he says.  It was originally Vincent's Dad, an audio enthusiast, who put the pieces of the puzzle together. 'We chose to use vintage speakers for their warmth and quality - many of the drivers we use were worth hundreds of dollars new in the 60's and 70's'.  The next challenge was the casing.  'It made sense to have a handle, so a suitcase seemed like the logical choice' explains Vincent, matter of factly.  'The vintage speakers we use aesthetically match suitcases from the same era, so it made sense to combine these.  Modern speakers made of plastic are too ostentatious for our liking!'

After taking his first prototype out to the park with friends in the summer of 2011, orders started coming in. He wasn't quite prepared for the response!  'After a few requests from friends, word started getting around and the business has grown steadily since' says Vincent, who was previously working as a cancer research scientist.  ''The first year and a half of business was all about market stalls and refining the product. Balancing full-time work and this emerging business quickly became demanding, so as of July last year it has been a full-time venture for my Rubin and myself'.  In September this year, the pair took another bold leap of faith, opening their very own shop in Collingwood!

So what's next for JukeCase? 'We are talking to a few new cafes about providing custom audio fit-outs, which is a really exciting avenue, and we have a few new products focusing on home-audio that are in development' says Vincent.  And of course, true to the original inspiration for their product, the pair are also planning a few outdoor parties over summer!  'Out the back of our new shop we also have a large courtyard that we are currently fitting out with outdoor furniture so we can host dinner parties and summertime fun - keep an eye out!' says Vincent.

JukeCases can be bought from the boys' Collingwood store, via their online shop, and also from stockists listed on their website.  Each JukeCase has a minimum of 20 hours battery life! Prices start at $330, with larger deluxe models priced at about $700.

JukeCase
195 Johnston St
Collingwood, VIC

Open Wednesday to Saturday, 10.00am to 6.00pm, and Sunday 12.00pm to 4.00pm.

Rubin Utama puts his self confessed 'Macgyver skills' to work in the JukeCase workshop!  Photo - Sean Fennessy.

A freshly built JukeCase.  Photo - Sean Fennessy.

The JukeCase store in Collingwood. Photo - Sean Fennessy.