The Sony Stowaway TPS-L2 was the first-ever portable stereo, designed and produced by Sony in 1979. Stowaway was developed in response to the request from Masaru Ibuka, founder of the Sony Corporation in Tokyo, for a stereo cassette player that could be carried around in owner’s pocket.

The idea for the Walkman first came in the form of the Sony TC-D5, a cassette-based field recorder and player popular with reporters, which had excellent sound quality (surpassing most Hi-Fi decks). Masaru Ibuka would often carry the TC-D5 with him on long plane flights so that he could listen to music, but complained of its bulk. He instructed the tape recorder division to create a smaller version for his personal use. The division modified the Sony Pressman TCM-5000 (which was originally designed for members of the press to record interviews) by adding stereophonic sound and removing the recording function. Ibuka was impressed and so the Walkman was born using lower end components to bring down the price.

The stereo was originally marketed with a variety of names for different territories. In the U.S. it was known as the ‘Soundabout’, the ‘Stowaway’ in the U.K. and the ‘Freestyle’ in Sweden. The Stowaway was later rebranded as the more familiar - Walkman. As cassettes don't skip like records do, the design of this portable stereo ushered in a new trend for listening to music on the go. This could turn everyday tasks like commuting and running into pleasurable experiences, give commuters a sense of privacy, and add a soundtrack to urban surroundings. The design also included an extra audio jack so two people could listen to music at a time. The TPS-L2 featured a ‘hotline’ button which activated a small built in microphone which allowed one listener to talk to the other over the music.

This Walkman was acquired as part of the Shekou Project, an international partnership between the V&A and China Merchant Shekou Holdings (CMSK) to open a new cultural platform called Design Society in Shekou. This Walkman was included in the inaugural exhibition, ‘Values of Design’, in the V&A Gallery at Design Society in a section exploring miniaturisation of design.