Minimalist furniture is often considered antithetical to hi-tech features, but this concept challenges those assumptions in a simple yet beautiful way.
There is no stopping smarter appliances and furniture from being made. Many lighting options today can connect to the Internet. Some wooden shelves and desks have wireless charging built in. The influx of technology in our homes can sometimes feel a bit too invasive and disruptive, especially if they tend to drive people apart, even when sharing the same physical space. Technology can sometimes also be too “in your face,” flexing its muscles and creating disharmony in people’s lives. Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way at all, and thoughtful product design offers the opportunities to upgrade what looks like simple, minimalist furniture without disrupting a family’s dynamics. It can be used by friends and family to help them build better relationships.
Designer: Dan Nigri
The dining table has always been traditionally associated with family bonding, at least before the era of television and smartphones. It is easy to see how many TV dramas and romcoms have their most pivotal or emotional scenes at the dining table. Things have changed drastically over the past years, especially when family members started paying more attention to their phones instead of each other, even when sitting around the same table. It’s only fitting, then, that this concept starts with a dining table to help repair the damage that technology has done in our lives.
At first brush, Etto looks like a nondescript wooden table. Although it is minimalistic, we like its design. Things change, however, when you “turn on” the table and the surface starts to display icons and text. Underneath that wooden veneer is apparently a screen that you can also touch and play with. You can also assume it is connected to the Internet.
The motivation behind this concept design is to bring everyone back to the dining table again. In addition to eating together, the table encourages other social activities, particularly playing games. With a touch screen, however, Etto can really become a canvas for almost anything, like a calendar and project board for discussing the next family vacation or a leaderboard of chores that everyone has accomplished.
It isn’t a gigantic tablet, though, so there are still limits on what you can do on the table. It is limited to a monochrome display of white against the natural wooden surface of the table, and there don’t seem to be enough pixels to display hi-res images. These limitations are designed to be seamless with our daily lives, and not cause disruption or distraction.
Many of the technologies needed to make the Etto table happen already exist today, with touch screen panels hiding behind wooden planks. This is a much more enjoyable and easier way to see a future filled with information and touch screens at all points. You can have your cake and eat it too, and not be worried that it’ll come screaming at you for attention.
