In today’s world, our homes, desks, cars, are filled with cables, adapters, outlets and battery packs designed for our ever increasing number of smartphones, wearable tech and, of course, the Internet of Things. Some have noticed the opportunity and began exploring a new industry that’s expected to boom in the next few years—the wireless charging indus try or inductive charging. An innovative way this is playing out is wireless charging furniture. Wireless Charging Collection from Ikea Last spring, Ikea decided it’s time to untangle the web so it launched its line of wireless charging furniture; that was a moment when a future of effortless device-charging seemed reachable, even though all those lamps and side tables would still need to be plugged in or that some phones, including iPhones, need a special case in order to pair with the Qi wireless charging technology built into the furniture pieces. “With the help of our wireless chargers, we make charging easy, fun and convenient, by turning furniture into charging spots. We enable convenient charging throughout the home, designed for your personal needs. At the same time, we make homes more beautiful by minimizing the use of cords. Nobody likes cords, yet everyone wants a fully functional home. With our wireless chargers, it’s possible to have both,” said Björn Block, IKEA range manager for lighting and wireless charging at the launch of their wireless charging collection. The collection has items that range from $9.99 (the Romma cord management box) to $119 (the VARV floor lamp). It’s simple, minimalist and very Ikea; it consists of charging pads, desk lamps, bedside tables and a special pad that users can install in any piece of wood furniture they already own (and don’t mind doing the drilling themselves). The charging pads are basically a cross in the middle of a circle that’s about two inches in diameter that use the Qi wireless standard. The majority of phone manufacturers support the Qi standard with the notable exception of Apple. Thus, for iPhones, Ikea came up with the Vitahult cases which include a Qi adaptor. It’s a bulky, unflattering case that feels as if it’s made of the same cheap plastic, but it gets the work done. On the other hand, the lamps and pads are actually quite good-looking. Bottom line: if your phone support Qi wireless charging and you like Ikea’s collection, go for it. If you’re an iPhone owner, you might want to wait for a better option. Curvilux Smart Furniture Argentina-based Curvilux recently launched its first product on Indiegogo—the Curvilux nightstand. It’s a clean-lined piece of furniture that features not only the built-in wireless charging and USB ports, but also boasts integrated speakers, two programmable lighting systems, motion and temperature sensors, smart home integration capabilities and a drawer you can unlock with your phone. It comes with an app that enables users to program lighting to set up a simulated sunrise alarm clock. Moreover, it can charge up to three devices at once through the wireless and USB chargers incorporated. The $50,000 crowdfunding campaign has been successful and met the funding goal which means that the nightstands will begin shipping in November 2016. FurniQi from Fonesalesman The London-based company specializes in standalone wireless charging pads, but it’s also developing FurniQi, a line of simple furniture pieces with built-in Qi wireless charging technology. The first in the range is a side table made of Mao Zhu Bamboo. The design is simple, with just a ring on the surface to indicate where the device should be placed to charge. “Marking our entry into the world of furniture, we have put a lot of thought into the table’s design and usability,” Bavan Palasanthiran, founder of Fonesalesman, said in a press release. “The FurniQi side table is incredibly easy to assemble taking a mere 60 seconds from opening up the box to having a complete table ready to charge your...
Flexible Furniture
Micro-Space Solutions
Expandable furniture helps micro-apartment inhabitants make the most out of limited square footage with the push of a button. Trundle beds and convertible couches may define making the most of a small living space, but what’s been lacking is automation and modernization. Enter Ori, robotic furniture that appears, and disappears, with the push of a button. Modular Momentum The brainchild of Hasier Larrea, Ori furniture takes the guesswork out of transformation, seamlessly morphing floor units and wall installations into beds and pop-out closets. Ori offers a full-scale bedroom with a retractable bed that can be changed into an office or a closet, along with a full media console/credenza. Other versions include a walk-in closet, couch and various flavors of storage space. All the systems can be integrated into new and existing floorplans, which allows the Ori system to fit comfortably into any new building development or retrofit. During her tenure as the leader of the Architectural Robotics research area at the MIT Media Lab, Larrea married her robotics tech with Yves Behar design. The final product involves modular, transformable furniture Larrea and her team hope will debut early next year. “Larson’s team at the Media Lab developed the technologies behind Ori as part of the CityHome research,” Larrea told Mashable in a recent interview. “Then we created some initial functional prototypes … and went to [designer] Yves Béhar to help us ‘transform’ this initial concept from a robot/machine to a customizable system that people would love to have in their homes.” Space on Demand Ori’s first piece available for purchase includes a trundle style bed that rolls out from the bottom of a large wall of shelves. Specially designed actuators, electronics and software created by researchers at MITs CityHome project allows Ori’s furniture to almost...
Life-Saving Furniture...
One Table, Many Uses
After seeing the haunting images of crumbled school buildings in Haiti, designer Arthur Brutter knew the focus of his upcoming academic project. He wanted to use design to save lives. Brutter, a student at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, teamed up with Professor Ido Bruno to tackle the true danger behind seismic events: falling debris. The EPA estimates that Americans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. While that percentage varies throughout the world, the concept draws attention to the hazards surrounding our indoor environments. A collapsed roof or fallen wall becomes lethal. Ducking and covering under the average table won’t help much. Brutter buckled down to months of research. He sought to create a table design that would shield people from the dangers of falling debris yet was lightweight enough for youth to lift and carry it. Perhaps the biggest challenge, though, was to set the table at a price point where it could be feasibly used in both developed and developing nations whose school children are at the mercy of earthquakes. With those factors in mind, the building materials became just as important as its blueprint. The table could not be made of titanium or some rare biological matter embedded with Superman’s DNA. It had to be cheap, light, and durable. After months of planning and trials, Brutter and Bruno brought a prototype to the lab that could successfully withstand record-breaking impact while staying lightweight and cost effective. The end result is a wonderfully practical, marvelously plain little table. Award-winning designer Ron Arad served as the duo’s mentor, helping to finalize the design. “It’s not about doing a showstopper visually,” he says. “But doing a disaster stopper and it should be judged as this.” But the table...
