In 2018, we explored how the home-tech market is shaking things up in a bid to de-tangle and de-clutter the household. Our findings highlighted a shift in interest towards ‘flexi-tech’, multi-functional products making our digital domesticity easier, tidier and, above all else, healthier.
Romanian product designer Vlad Iorgulescu sees the link between technology and wellness fundamental to modern home product design. This relationship lies at the crux of his latest venture, Oupio: the merging of a high fidelity speaker with a smart lamp, optimised to brighten our indoor lives with ‘human-centric’ lighting and quality sound.
‘Since we spend most of our time indoors, we end up relying on artificial lighting to light up our spaces,’ he explains. ‘The ways in which we’ve adapted our lighting ends up confusing our body’s response to light and our circadian rhythms, leading to mood changes, insomnia and tiredness. Oupio is here to fix that.’
Guided by Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design and the motto ‘own less, do more’, Iorgulescu housed the two pieces of sensory tech together within a spherical shell of white opal glass, anodized aluminium and wood. Both the visual and sonic experiences on offer can be shaped via a minimal touch interface located around the central speaker ring (change parameters with one finger for sound, two or more for light), which makes moulding the perfect indoor ambience a simple affair.
Both technologies are similarly designed with utility and calm in mind. Twenty high-powered LEDs offer everything between cold, crisp hues to calming mellow yellows on the lighting front, and have been designed to last a minimum of 10,000 hours. On the sonic side of the coin, audio can only be streamed via Bluetooth. Streamlined Balanced Mode Radiator technology and a pair of co-axial drivers offer a frequency range of 65Hz to 20KHz with a fairly loud top volume of around 90dB.
Oupio can be fitted anywhere around the house, either acting as a tabletop companion or providing overhead sound and light when hung from the ceiling. ‘We need hybrid products with mixed functionality,’ states Iorgulescu. ‘By doing this, we declutter our living spaces, have a smaller carbon footprint and pay less while still maintaining the functionality we desire.’
‘We need to find ways of making life indoors better for our health, mood and wellbeing. This is Oupio’s mission and we’re only just beginning.’
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