Foresight Factory - Lectra - understanding tomorrows furniture consumer
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A presentation covering the key contextual drivers and consumer trends affecting how consumers will regard their homes and the furniture within them
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Foresight Factory - Lectra - understanding tomorrows furniture consumer
- 1. 1 M U K I D I WWW.WEBSITE.COM B O R D E A U X J U N E 2 0 1 8 NICK CHIARELLI Director & Client Partner Foresight Factory UNDERSTANDING TOMORROW’S FURNITURE BUYER Achieving growth in uncertain times @nickchiarelli@futurethoughts
- 2. Understanding the future Driving Forces E Economic Change P Political Change T Technological Change S Social Change L Legislative Change E Environmental Change Who is affected? What changes result? Changing consumer attitudes Changing consumer behaviours General Trends Sector Trends B2B product & service providers B2C product & service providers Product & service innovation Marketing strategy & tactics Industry Trends Consumers
- 3. Politics/Economy Society Environment Technology Cruise Control Mechanised Trust Ageless Society Life on Demand Effortlessly Ethical War on Waste Customised Reality Engineered Empathy Me Me World Driving Forces General Consumer Trends Sector* Consumer Trends Tiny Homes The Healthy Home 21st Century Communal Living Smart Sleep Urban (Home) Farming The Customised Home Invisible Home Tech Immersive Interior Design * *sector = House/Home
- 4. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE: A time of rising uncertainty and feelings of vulnerability
- 6. 6 % who personally feel at risk from Political instability over the next 5 years [UK] 27% Some feel vulnerable to political change
- 7. 7 Fearing financial hardship 44% % who feel personally at risk of financial hardship in the next 5 years [USA] 70% 69% 67% 60% 50% USA Germany Sweden GB China % who agree “I do not save as much money as I would like to because the cost of living is too high”
- 8. 8Source: McKinsey & Company, Independent Work, October 2016 30% derive their primary income from this work people in the US and EU15 engage in task- based, short-term independent work 162m 16% engage in this work on top of existing jobs out of financial necessity Precarious work
- 9. TREND: Cruise Control “I try to appear in control of my life at all times” [UK] 64% Microsoft Magic Mirror
- 10. Half of adults have used a fact checking service or are interested in doing so [UK]. TREND: Mechanised Trust Airbnb ChangeCoin
- 11. SECTOR TREND: Tiny Homes Global urban population and population density 0 20 40 60 80 100 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Urban population (% of total) Population density (people per sq. km of land) DUS Architects: 3D printed Cabin Nicholas Gurney 24m2 apartment
- 12. SECTOR TREND: The Healthy Home Naava offers a “smart green wall” Niio on demand digital art subscription service Foobot air quality monitor
- 13. ENVIRON- MENTAL CHANGE: A time of rising concern but(so far) relatively little behavioural change
- 14. By 2050, up to 6.6 million people annually may die prematurely from exposure to air pollution 2025: 1.8 billion people will live under absolute water scarcity
- 15. “I believe that climate change is a very serious problem” 72% EU28 78% 56% 58% Companies should be penalised Concentrate on value and minimise CSR Of the former who think the latter TREND: Effortlessly Ethical
- 16. TREND: War on Waste "People are generally far too wasteful when it comes to food” 71% “I am trying to reduce the amount of household waste I produce” 72%
- 17. SECTOR TREND: Urban (Home) Farming IKEA Indoor gardening system Square Root Urban farming accelerator Growing Underground LED “sunlight”
- 18. SOCIAL CHANGE: A time of fluidity and old assumptions under threat
- 19. 2050: Global urban population 66% (up from 54% in 2015) Global population NOW = 7.3 Bn 2030 = 8.5 Bn 2050 = 9.7 Bn
- 20. AGELESS ATTITUDE % who agree “I don’t want to be defined by my age” | Global Average 63% TREND: Ageless Society The Restaurant of Order Mistakes
- 21. TREND: Life on Demand “I am often under time pressure in everyday life” [UK] 46% Gen Y 53% have used a delivery service that delivers to a specific location in less than 2 hours [China] are interested in doing so in the future 34% 54%
- 22. SECTOR TREND: 21st Century Communal Living The Collective Old Oak Common CoLive247 Bengaluru WeLive NYC + Washington DC
- 23. SECTOR TREND: Smart Sleep Luna Smart mattress cover Nightingale Smart Sleep System
- 24. TECHNO- LOGICAL CHANGE: A time of unprecedented change and “limitless” possibility
- 25. By 2025, 25% of cars sold will have electric engines 2026: 10% of cars in the US will be driverless
- 26. 2021: The first robot pharmacist will exist in the US 2025: 30% of corporate audits will be performed by AI
- 27. 2020: There will be up to 7 million drones flying in the sky 80% of businesses already use or plan to use chatbots by 2020 Technological Change
- 28. TREND: Customised Reality of consumers are interested in using a digital mirror to virtually try on clothes [GLOBAL]. 55% 75%+ Interest is highest in India, Dubai and China where agreement is over
- 30. TREND: Engineered Empathy % who have used a chat/messenger service to speak to a customer service assistant [Global average] 59%
- 31. TREND: Me Me World % interested in a service that sent me recommendations for things to buy based on what I have previously bought [Global] 47% Nippon Paint: Paint New Happiness
- 32. TREND: Customisation & Co-creation % who have customised/personalised a product in store/online before buying it [Global] 22 33 64 68 Now 2025 (F) Used Used/Interested in using Scribit
- 33. SECTOR TREND: The customised home Print the Future Manhattan Rapid Liquid Printing MIT Flux 3D printing + camera
- 34. SECTOR TREND: Invisible Home Tech Fonesalesman FurniQi range Loud Objects By Bilge Nur Saltik Panasonic “invisible” TV
- 35. SECTOR TREND: Immersive Interior Design SpaceView Immersive platform VividWorks Visualisation system Pair Showrooming app
- 36. Some watchwords, whatever your industry ENVIRONMENT Ethics Waste Minimisation Self Sufficiency POLITICS/ECONOMY Control Trust Support Health TECHNOLOGY Connection Immersion Personalisation Invisible Tech SOCIETY No stereotyping Inclusivity Time poverty Sleep as luxury Communal living
- 37. B O R D E A U X J U N E 2 0 1 8 NICK CHIARELLI Director & Client Partner Foresight Factory UNDERSTANDING TOMORROW’S FURNITURE BUYER Achieving growth in uncertain times @nickchiarelli@futurethoughts
Editor's Notes
- NOTE: Trends can mean different things to different people For B2B and B2C marketers they can mean trends in marketing, product design, product production processes, etc For consumers they can mean General trends e.g. Life on Demand living. For such trends we can think about how they apply to a particular industry Sector trends e.g. Trends impacting House/Home
- This perception is not related to age It is remarkably even across the entire age spectrum 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ 28% 27% 24% 27% 27% 30%
- So let’s take a cue from Newt and see how people feel. What’s clear is that feelings of precariousness are alive and well. In October we asked people in a handful of markets what they feel most at risk of in the next 5 years - the most popular response in all but 1 market was financial hardship. In the US, 44% say they feel at risk, including just under a third of those on relatively high household incomes and personal savings. This in a market where real incomes have failed to rise significantly in a generation. In GB - 4 in 10 say they feel the same way.
- … while 16% say they engage in this work on top of their existing jobs out of financial necessity. Of course there are benefits in independent work, but there of trade-offs. What happens to worker benefits, what about long-term income security, what about training and access to credit - some of the benefits of traditional employment.
- Cruise control is about the idea that consumers want to be in control of their lives – information is what empowers control One example of this is that more are tracking their health – this gives them information that they can use to control how they react – their diet, their exercise, either just by themselves or by sharing the information with healthcare professionals Consumers will increasingly want control of their lives, outfits and homes At the Build 2016 event, Microsoft revealed its concept for a Magic Mirror that would use the capability of Windows 10 and the Internet of Things to deliver a connected home experience. The Smart Mirror is intended to help people get ready in the morning. The one-way mirror has an in-laid LCD display that recognises the face of the person and shows them personalised, relevant information, egieweather, commute time, stock prices. At the time of writing (September 2016) acommercial release date has not yet been set, but Microsoft has published the source code for the web app, a list of necessary materials and assembly instructions. Link: https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2016/05/31/magic-mirror-hosted-web-app/
- Information is also changing the trust equation. Consumers can check prices or point of sale product claims or news stories with a click of their smartphone. Blockchain technology will provide the engine for increased transparency of supply chain, internal processes and even pricing Source: Foresight Factory | Base: 1000-5000 online respondents per country (24 markets) aged 16-64, 2017 In Spring 2016, Airbnb “acqui-hired” a number of members of the engineering team behind bitcoin-based ChangeCoin, a micropayments start-up which allowed users to tip in Bitcoin. Airbnb may use the team to look into using the blockchain to securely share users’ reputations on the site with other sharing economy companies. Nathan Blecharczyk, CTO and co-founder of the company commented: “I think that, within the context of Airbnb, your reputation is everything, and I can see it being even more so in the future...But then the question is whether there’s a way to export that and allow access elsewhere to help other sharing economy models really flourish.” Link: http://qz.com/657246/airbnb-just-acquired-a-team-of-bitcoin-and-blockchain-experts/
- The World Bank estimates that in 2016 55% of the global population lived in urban areas, a proportion set to rise to 70% by 2050. This is driving housing crises in both developing and developed cities, which architects and designers are responding to with innovative concept buildings. Compact buildings which have a small external footprint whilst maximising their internal space allow homes to be built on plots previously considered too small. This tackles the problem of prohibitively high rental costs and house prices present in many urban areas of developed countries, by expanding the housing stock available. Meanwhile, these buildings have the potential to enable many urban residents in developing countries to move out of poor housing conditions into more sanitary spaces, or to provide shelter for the homeless. DUS Architects has designed a 3D printed Urban Cabin, printed from black bio-plastic with a concrete floor. The one-room cabin aims to be the first step for the company in developing sustainable, customisable, and on-demand housing solutions for fast growing cities. Australian architect Nicholas Gurney designed a 24m2 apartment based on the Japanese 5S methodology, to easily organise and care for the belongings of the occupants. The design aims to maximise efficiency, and provide a high quality of living.
- It has been estimated that people in developed countries spend 87% of their time indoors, and 69% in their home. Combined with increased awareness of personal health and a desire to carefully control the environment we live in, this is driving consumers to strive to make the home environment as healthy as possible. In addition to products that monitor and improve air quality, temperature and humidity, features that are designed to improve mood and mental health are also emerging, allowing consumers to transform the home into a holistic wellbeing space. Awareness of the indoor microbiome is also on the rise, along with the importance of the role good bacteria play in keeping us healthy. Scientific studies have shown that children who live with animals in the home are less likely to develop asthma and other allergies, as exposure to animal microorganisms reportedly makes the immune system more resilient. Naava offers a “smart green wall” designed to purify and freshen the air breathed when indoors. The plant wall claims to reduce harmful chemicals, naturalise indoor air and optimise humidity, resulting in minimised fatigue and increased cognitive performance. It is fully automated, using AI to actively manage the air space. The brand aims to “reconnect humanity with nature” and make indoor spaces happier, healthier places to be. Niio delivers an on demand digital art subscription service to any connected screen, creating custom immersive environments. Each digital art collection can be managed by mobile or voice, or automatic curation can be selected which chooses art based on mood. Niio can, for example, enhance the home space by displaying soothing images. Foobot is an air quality monitor which communicates with other smart home devices to automatically provide the home with fresh air. The device monitors volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, humidity and temperature, then relays this information to air purifiers and temperature controls, as well as displaying it in the app. Foobot claims this could add years to lives.
- The world is on track to reach dangerous levels of global warming much sooner than expected, according to new Australian research that highlights the alarming implications of rising energy demand. 2oC global temperature rise by 2030 The carbon counters: tracking emissions in a post-Paris world University of Queensland and Griffith University researchers have developed a “global energy tracker” which predicts average world temperatures could climb 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2020. That forecast, based on new modelling using long-term average projections on economic growth, population growth and energy use per person, points to a 2C rise by 2030. The UN conference on climate change in Paris last year agreed to a 1.5C rise as the preferred limit to protect vulnerable island states, and a 2C rise as the absolute limit. The new modelling is the brainchild of Ben Hankamer from UQ’s institute for molecular bioscience and Liam Wagner from Griffith University’s department of accounting, finance and economics, whose work was published in the journal Plos One on Thursday. A WHO study in 2015 expressed concern that by 2050 up to 6.6 million people annually may die prematurely from exposure to air pollution In 2025 it is projected that 1.8 billion people will live under absolute water scarcity. By 2050 demand will have increased by 55% compared to 2010s levels.
- Launched in late 2017, Pentatonic is a furniture company using waste materials – including plastic bottles, old clothes and cigarettes – to create household furniture and furnishings. Aiming to create a circular economy for furniture, the company encourages customers to return their products in the future for a guaranteed “buy-back” value, so they can be recycled into a new piece. As the chairs, tables and glassware are made with a single material and no glues they can be recycled with zero waste. Plus, their modular design means that components can be changed and adapted by hand, so furniture can be updated and customised rather than replaced. Pentatonic appeals to those consumers who are concerned about their environmental impact, and want to take action at a personal level to combat the issues of waste and sustainable production. Link: https://www.pentatonic.com/en_uk/
- In March 2016 IKEA launched an affordable, indoor gardening system. Compact and easy to use, the system brings hydroponic gardening to the mainstream. Various sizes and iterations are available, all for home use. Brooklyn-based company, Square Roots, describes itself as an “urban farming accelerator”. The company repurposes shipping containers to act as vertical urban farms, producing fresh greens, which can be delivered directly to offices on a weekly subscription basis. Each of the 10 containers is given over to an agricultural entrepreneur with an interest in vertical farming, for one year. The company was launched in 2016 by Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother. Growing Underground is an underground hydroponic farm in south London housed in a disused tunnel, which uses LED lights to replace natural sunlight. Launched in 2014, the company announced in early 2017 that its produce would be sold by online retailer Ocado, though the company wants to stay local and has a farm-to-table in 4 hours policy.
- The current world population of 7.3 billion is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to a new UN DESA report, “World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision”, launched today 2050: The average life expectancy around the world is projected to reach 77.8 years, up from 46.8 in 1950. The biggest improvements are expected in Africa, where life expectancy is expected to increase by 109%. 2050: UN estimates place global urban population at 66% of total, up from 54% in 2015 2025: Asia alone predicted to have 30 megacities (above 10 million inhabitants).
- Source: Eurostat/SILC/nVision. 2014 Source: Foresight Factory | Base: 500-4000 online respondents per country aged 16-64 (Indonesia 16-54), 2017 August So how are these demographic shifts affecting how we live? Well, with older generations living healthier and more active lives for longer, and life stages become much less rigid in structure, an ageless attitude is becoming the norm. People want to live their lives to the full at any age and this will affect ways of living and working profoundly. In early June 2017, The Restaurant of Order Mistakes (a twist on The Restaurant of Many Orders, Kenji Miyazawa’s 1924 tale) opened in Tokyo, employing only waiting staff diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's. It is the brainchild of Japanese charity Maggie’s Tokyo, where the restaurant was hosted. The premise of the pop-up restaurant was that the staff may get orders wrong, but if guests go in knowing so in advance, it won’t upset them too much. Those behind the restaurant hope that it will change perceptions about those suffering from degenerative brain diseases and realise that they can still be functioning members of society.
- Urban density and logistics innovation has led to people getting whatever they want at the click of a button, and in increasingly shorter timeframes. Patience is a thing of the past and immediacy is our new normal. Auto-replenishment is the next stage in this trend and threatens a world in which brands get bypassed altogether. “I am often under time pressure in my everyday life” | “How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements?” | % who agree strongly or agree | 2016 UK data In October 2017, Cambridge Consultants announced a drone delivery concept that can deliver a package straight to the recipient, in any location. DeliverAir uses a two-stage routing process that is currently patent-pending to allow instant delivery of items that are needed immediately, such as first aid kits. The drone first uses GPS to navigate to the recipient’s smartphone location, until it arrives within visual range. It then switches to precision optical tracking, and a 3D imaging and ranging system to locate and authenticate the user. The package is then lowered into the recipients hands. Launched in late 2015, Volvo In-car Delivery is a service for delivering goods directly to a Volvo owners’ cars. Couriers are given a digital key that can be used to unlock the boot of the customer’s car. After the drop-off, customers receive a confirmation notification to let them know their order has arrived. Doddle Neighbour is a service from online delivery collection point service Doddle. Launched in early 2016, this service allows people to opt for their homes to become pick-up points for local deliveries. This is incentivised by payments of 50p per parcel for the address that acts as a pick- up point. In summer 2016, DPD announced a new service Precise which gives customers “complete control over their deliveries”. They have partnered with ASOS to allow customers the opportunity to choose an exact one-hour delivery slots, seven days a week. what3words is a start-up that assigns unique three-word addresses to every location worldwide. The world is divided into global grids of 57 trillion 3m x 3m squares. Each square has its own unique, easy to remember name. This allows e-commerce companies to accurately deliver to locations without a conventional street address in difficult to reach locations worldwide.
- Communal living has long been a feature of early adult life. From market to market, the concept of room-mates, flat-shares or Wohngemeinschaften is entrenched. However, the co-living concept is becoming formalised and commercialised in urban centres across the globe. New co-living spaces - in which users typically rent a private room with access to shared common areas - often highlight the networking and lifestyle-related benefits that contemporary co-living can bring. The target profile would appear to include young professionals who require both convenient urban rental options (often, co-living spaces offer time-flexible contracts and multiple facilities under one roof), ready-made (often curated) communities and comfortable space in which to work remotely. The Collective Old Oak Common opened in Willesden Junction in northwest London in the spring of 2016. Fully furnished and hosting over 500 rooms of varying size, a library, co-living spaces, a roof terrace and a rich events calendar, the complex acts as its own self-contained neighbourhood. CoLive247 is an affiliate of Indian co-working company Co.Life. It provides a number of shared living spaces across Bengaluru, and launched women-only co-living space Hermosa Muer in early 2017, in partnership with UKN Properties. WeLive was launched by the team behind co-working space entrepreneurs WeWork in April 2016. Offering studios and 1-3+-bedroom apartments along with communal areas it offers apartments in New York City and Washington, DC.
- Consumers are seeking new ways to track, understand and improve their bedtime habits to reap the health benefits of a good night’s sleep. Brands are answering this consumer desire through the use of smart technology. Making use of the Internet of Things, devices are able to track consumers sleep patterns and adjust conditions accordingly. Some make household utilities, such as smart meters, to automatically adjust the localised temperature in and around the bed to ideal levels for sleep. Others work as blockers for obtrusive noise, using white noise to mask sounds at night. Devices can also work with other smart devices to streamline both evening and morning activities – the waking consumer triggers preparation of a fresh coffee. Luna’s smart mattress cover tracks the users sleep and adjusts the bed’s temperature, via Nest thermostats, to optimise conditions for sleep. The device connects to the company’s app and learns the individual’s sleep patterns and habits. The device can also work as a white noise machine, to block annoying sound, and can be programmed to start a smart coffee machine at the time the user normally wakes up. Nightingale is a smart sleep system that blankets a room with sound to mask any disturbing noises. The system creates a uniform sound field that doesn’t allow the brain to localise any sound source. The units are plugged directly into the wall and work with other smart-home connected devices, including Nest, Hue and Google Home.
- By 2025, 25% of cars sold will have electric engines, up from 5% today. But most of those will be hybrids, and 95% of cars will still rely on fossil fuels for at least part of their power. http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/technology-driving-innovation/cars-2025/ Norway to 'completely ban petrol powered cars by 2025' http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/norway-to-ban-the-sale-of-all-fossil-fuel-based-cars-by-2025-and-replace-with-electric-vehicles-a7065616.html 2026: More trips will be taken using ridesharing than by privately owned cars
- 2015 - 2025: 30% of bank jobs in the US are forecast to be lost by 2025, primarily as a result of automated retail banking. 2025: It is estimated that up to 25% of jobs in the UK could be replaced by robots or smart software by 2025.
- Businesses are beginning to see the benefits of using chatbots for their consumer-facing products, according to a survey by Oracle. The survey included responses from 800 decision makers including chief marketing officers, chief strategy officers, senior marketers, and senior sales executives from France, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the UK. When asked which emerging technologies they are already using and which they intended to implement, 80% of respondents said they already used or planned to use chatbots by 2020. Chatbots are interactive software platforms that reside in apps, live chat, email, and SMS and can behave in a human-like manner. Additionally, the survey shows that business leaders and decision makers are turning to the broader umbrella of automation technologies, which includes chatbots, for things like sales, marketing, and customer service. Forty-two percent of participants believe automation technologies in these areas will most improve the customer experience. And 48% said that they already use automation technology for these business functions, with 40% planning to implement some form of automated technology by 2020. http://uk.businessinsider.com/80-of-businesses-want-chatbots-by-2020-2016-12?r=US&IR=T
- The Dulux Visualiser app uses augmented reality technology to allow people to see what their room would look like painted in any colour. Users are able to do this live via their camera phone or apply new colours to saved images and videos to then share with friends and family. A colour picker feature also allows users to take a photo of an object in real life and get the closest match from Dulux’s 1200 colours. Link: https://www.dulux.co.uk/en/articles/the-dulux-visualizer-app
- In November 2017, Hort Innovation launched Plant Life Balance, a campaign to promote the health and wellbeing effects of plants. The Plant Life Balance app uses augmented reality to help consumers style their space in a healthy way. The app will also rate a users’ space on how healthy it is. By measuring how many air-borne toxins are removed by each plant, and analysing size, species, and where they are placed in the space, the app can give ratings on both air quality and wellbeing. Link: http://www.plantlifebalance.com.au/
- Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8j835HM6cI In March 2018 TDK launched the BonsAI project, a smart bonsai tree that offers emotional support. Unlike the usual home assistants, BonsAI doesn't help with day-to-day tasks, but instead offers words of wisdom and positivity to help owners improve their wellness and peace of mind. The AI technology answers questions such as “what does life exist for?” with quotes such as “what is important in life is life, not the result of life”. The smart assistant aims to be a mindfulness and spiritual companion, appealing to customers who would rather use tech to enhance their emotional health.
- In April 2017 Nippon Paint launched a new campaign, Paint New Happiness, which uses AI to connect with consumers. The AI tool analyses several different data points from social media including lifestages and relationships to create a personalised life colour palette and virtual mood rooms for the user. Nippon Paint’s aim is to complement human creativity and decision making by deepening their understanding of the consumer, and position paints as a highly personalised offering rather than a problem solving tool. Link: http://www.nipponpaint.com.my/paint-new-happiness/
- Scheduled to begin a crowdfunding campaign in June 2018, Scribit claims to be the world’s first “write and erase robot”. Scribit users install the device on their wall, then can begin drawing with a choice of four colours. Users can draw and erase as many times as they desire – on vertical surfaces from whiteboard, to glass, to standard plaster. The intelligent writing robot can then share your drawings or source other content from the internet. Scribit aims to make connections between the analogue and digital worlds more interactive and creative. It allows users to express their creativity in different ways every day, as the walls of the home become a canvas for art. Link: https://www.scribit.design/
- By 3D printing interiors, consumers can personalise their homes so that it suits both their functional needs and their preferred aesthetics. We see a growing number of solutions that allow consumers to feel special and show their style by customising their homes to their taste. Many areas of the home present an opportunity for personalisation, and 3D printing provides a quick solution for all aspects of customisation, from colour to material to size. Furniture designers are giving customers the opportunity to personalise products in-store and can print new objects in real-time for the consumer. This helps designers appeal to a wider audience, as flexible furniture will integrate with a wider range of homes. Print the Future launched a pop-up shop in Manhattan in March 2017, showcasing 3D printing of home ware. The company aims to help designers convert their ideas into objects that can be sold direct-to-consumer, and widen the awareness of the benefits of 3D printing including customisation. Showcased at Milan design week in April 2017, MIT have developed a process called Rapid Liquid Printing which can 3D print large objects such as chairs in less time than regular 3D printers. Furniture can be customised to exact requirements, and larger, more robust structures can be made. In 2016, Red Dot Design Award went to Taiwanese 3D printing company Flux. The Kickstarter start-up created a small, modular printer that has a built-in camera to monitor creations via an app, giving users more control over their items.
- High tech items have become seamlessly integrated into daily life, and, for some, the home is becoming crowded with technology as personal devices and smart appliances clamour for attention and space. As tech becomes increasingly ubiquitous, concerns over the resulting intrusion into consumers’ lives are also rising. This is particularly pertinent in the home environment, which is regarded as a personal space where privacy is valued. All this is driving a desire to cut back on technological clutter in the home. Tech which plays a background role, enabling the smooth running of consumers’ domestic lives yet only demanding attention when absolutely necessary and for minimal time, is gaining traction. Increasingly, furniture itself incorporates technology - further reducing the visibility of tech in the home. ▲ Ikea’s Home Smart collection includes wireless charging furniture, along with LED bulbs, doors and lighting panels which are operated remotely. The range of charging lamps includes floor and table lamps capable of charging two devices at once, cutting down on wires and clutter in the home. The lamps give off soft light, aiming to create a warm, cosy atmosphere in the room. Fonesalesman has released furniture containing concealed wireless charging devices. The FurniQi side table boasts a sleek, minimalist design that will complement home environments. Designer Bilge Nur Saltik aims to integrate new consumer electronics with familiar household objects. Her Loud Objects collection consists of a serving plate, candle holders and vases made from marble and wood, that also operate as Bluetooth speakers. Panasonic is developing an “invisible” TV. The screen is embedded in a glass panel, and when turned off is completely transparent, allowing decoration or artwork behind it to be viewed.
- Immersive technology, including augmented reality apps and virtual reality headsets, provide furniture retailers and interior designers the opportunity to showcase their products in new, more creative ways. Augmented reality devices and apps allow consumers to project interior design options into their own home, allowing them to see whether a product will complement their space. Virtual reality headsets offer architects and interior designers the chance to showcase more elaborate changes to a living space. Options for remodelled rooms, new kitchens and extensions can be explored by the customer to better help them make an informed decision. Spaceview is an immersive platform for use by furniture sellers and interior designers. They can use the platform to show customers how products will look in their homes. The software can be used as an AR app on smartphones and tablets as well as on virtual reality goggles. VividWorks is an AR startup that allows shoppers to see how furniture and other home decor products will look in their home. Retailers can use the system to help design and prototype products and new room layouts. Pair is an app that “brings the showroom to your living room”. The app allows shoppers to visualise furniture in their homes through use of augmented reality on smartphones or tablets.
- Some examples of trends