LAYER Design X Samsung’s 10,000mAh power bank explores maximum power in a minimal form

With its ambient, minimalist design that takes cues from nature, the Samsung Battery Pack sits perfectly on your work desk, blending in but standing out as a power bank with a uniquely different aesthetic. Designed in collaboration with LAYER Design, the battery pack boasts an organic shape that exudes a natural essence. Its pebble-like appearance is enveloped in a speckled plastic material that feels soft to the touch, adding a human touch to the device. The rounded shape gets sliced flat at one end, creating a surface for the charging ports. This asymmetrical design fits snugly in the hand, providing an enhanced and ergonomic user experience.

Designers: LAYER X Samsung

To reinforce the Samsung Battery Pack’s stone-like design, it comes with a beige, speckled plastic outer housing that has a smooth, matte finish reminiscent of a pebble or polished stone. The battery pack feels great in the hand, thanks to its curved surfaces (like an exaggerated version of Samsung’s own phones which come with rounded edges). The flat surface on the bottom allows the power bank to stand vertically when not in use (although don’t expect it to be stable), and an engraved “10” on the battery pack’s surface lets users quickly identify that the battery pack has a capacity of 10,000 mAh.

The Samsung Battery Pack with a capacity of 10,000 mAh and 25W power output is a high-performance device that offers speedy charging on the go. Equipped with Super Fast Charging technology, it can instantly boost the power of your devices and recharge just as quickly. The Battery Pack is designed with dual-port charging capability, allowing you to charge multiple devices simultaneously, such as your phone and earbuds, for added convenience and less hassle.

“We are proud to have partnered with Samsung since the very beginnings of LAYER. The new Battery Pack is a small part of a larger collaboration, and it is exciting to release the first of many products we are working on,” says Benjamin Hubert, founder of LAYER. “The Samsung Battery Pack is accessible, functional, and simple yet instantly identifiable and memorable, bringing a little bit of joy to the everyday.” The Samsung Battery Pack starts at $34.99 and is available globally in select outlets.

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LAYER Breeze coffee machine presents a softer way to start your day

Kitchen appliances have gotten more sophisticated and more advanced these days, yet their design language has remained mostly the same. Although they definitely look elegant and refined, most kitchen equipment, from refrigerators to ovens, often have sharp edges, shiny metallic surfaces, and an almost cold demeanor. There are exceptions, of course, but this design DNA seems to be the most prevalent, even for smaller appliances like toasters and coffee machines. That, in turn, dictates the overall aesthetic of the kitchen, at least if the appliances’ style doesn’t clash with the theme you already have going. That doesn’t always have to be the case, and this capsule-based coffee machine challenges those established traditions to bring a device that greets you with a calming and somber ambiance that helps ease you into the day.

Designer: Benjamin Hubert (LAYER Design)

A lot of people depend on coffee to get their day started or even get through the rest of the day. While businesses like Starbucks can be found almost everywhere, many households today would have their own coffee machine, whether using beans or capsules. Despite the popularity of these appliances, few owners probably notice how their designs affect how people see and approach them, which is to say they see coffee machines are veritable machines that are elegant yet clinical rather than something approachable and personal.

Breeze, designed for the South Korean coffee brand Dongsuh, tries to change that attitude by drastically changing the appearance of a capsule coffee machine. This comparatively newer breed of coffee makers often have more stylish and less industrial designs, but they still can’t get rid of that shiny metallic luster common to kitchen appliances and tools. In contrast, Breeze applies a refreshing and softer color palette, favoring pastel variants of white, charcoal, and pink to convey a gentler personality.

The shapes are also distinctly different. While the modular blocks are admittedly more geometric, their rounded corners add to the overall softer aesthetic of the machine. A ridged surface wraps around the base, contrasting with the smoother texture of the head. Another point of contrast is the tall water tank at the back, a transparent container that projects an image of clarity that, when taken together with the more subdued hues of the machine, seems to send a message of calm.

Beyond just the visuals, the design also includes a more tactile interface to operate the machine, using clearly marked LED-backlit buttons at the top of the head. Made from simple shapes and with a simple way of operating, Breeze gives the coffee machine a gentle and almost comforting identity, which is probably the kind of character you’d want to meet when you get your coffee first thing in the morning or in the middle of a tiring day.

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The biggest problem with smart-speakers is that they’re voices without faces – LAYER’s Capsula Mini fixes that

Filling a rather strangely-ignored UX gap with the smart-speaker market, LAYER Design’s smart-speaker for Russia-based Mail.ru comes with its own expressive little face that reacts as it listens and speaks. Titled the Capsula Mini, the smart speaker runs Mail.ru’s native voice AI – Marusya, while assuming the friendly avatar of a little AI butler that’s ready to answer all your requests.

The speaker takes on the familiar puck-like shape seen with other mini smart-speakers like the Amazon Echo Dot or the Apple HomePod Mini. It sports a fabric clad around the sides where you’d expect the speakers to fire audio out of, and a set of LED eyes shine right through the fabric. The speaker uses a seven-segment LED display for each eye (and a single dot for the nose), allowing it to express emotions like happiness, sadness, nonchalance, and surprise, while also doubling as a clock that displays the time. A touch-sensitive surface on the top lets you physically interact with the Capsula Mini, while an LED ring underneath its touch panel lights up when the speaker’s active (and turns to red when there’s an error).

The voice and touch-activated speaker hopes to do something rather new by associating a face with the speaker’s voice. Given how our visual sense plays such a dominant role in our perception of everything from events to emotions, it makes sense, being able to associate a face with the voice – after all, video chats are so much better than audio calls, no? Capsula Mini’s eyes and nose also pull off the ‘serious’ veneer associated with gadgets that end up scaring people who are tech-phobic or don’t know how to use certain tech appliances – like children or the elderly. The fact that Capsula Mini has a face and a voice anthropomorphizes it, making it much more approachable, especially to people who aren’t tech-savvy.

The smart-speaker will be available to Russian users in two color variants – ‘Dove Grey’ and ‘Charcoal’, with more colors in the future.

Designer: LAYER Design for Mail.ru

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LAYER Design’s flexible chair is based on human psychology and sports

Being in the house all the time, many of us are on Pinterest making mood boards of furniture we wished we had! On that board is my all-time favorite studio, LAYER Design, who has unveiled a chair called Membrane which I want for two reasons – 1) a change of scenery in my home so I can have something new to chill on and 2) because it is a beautifully crafted product that works for a flexible lifestyle. The current times have taught us a lot, and one of those things is choosing products that are highly functional in various situational settings.

The Membrane has been described as a highly engineered, ultra-lightweight chair that resonates with the flexible needs of future homes which truly shows in the details of its build. Its form and function were based on qualitative research from the sports industry and combined with minimal visuals which resulted in this sustainable chair. The assembly is simple – there are 8 supporting tubes with 2 ring-like tubes that form the structure of the chair. You then pull the stretchy, cushioned fabric over the assembled skeleton and that’s it, that is your chair. If you move houses or want to carry it out for camping, you can just fold the fabric and collect the short tubes to set it up wherever you like.

“We deliver technically demanding solutions that respond meaningfully to human behavioral trends,” says the team. The chair is portable, modern and based on a design strategy that accounts for emotion as strongly as functional needs. The materials used give it an airy appeal unlike the bulky furniture we are used to, it truly lightens (see what I did there?) up the room. LAYER Design wanted to create a chair that was innovative with its material use but also based on the ever-changing human needs and they have delivered it with Membrane.

Designer: LAYER Design

Layer Design’s sustainable glass straws double up as visually engaging centerpieces!

January’s almost coming to an end (yes I know!) and with 2020 hurtling along in full force, being eco-friendly is now a way of life. There’s simply no excuse for hurting the environment, which includes using the nefarious disposable plastic straws. Metal and paper alternatives are available, but metallic straws tend to alter the flavor of our drinks, and the paper ones disintegrate before we can even manage to finish our drinks.

In an attempt to create a solution, Benjamin Hubert of London-based design agency Layer collaborated with design magazine Surface to produce the Surface Straws! Created from recycled borosilicate glass, these straws are sculptural beauties. Recyclable, reusable, hypoallergenic, and easy to clean and maintain, these aesthetic straws also make for eye-catching centerpieces! Each straw comes in different height and diameter, so they’re perfect for sipping on any drink, whether it’s a stress-relieving cocktail, a frothy milkshake, or maybe that glass of water your body needs! The triad of straws come in subtle shades of green, with one bordering on grey. The different heights and complementary color schemes of the straws add on to their visual appeal.

Placed within a glass bell jar, supported by a recycled rubber base, the straws resemble the branches of a tree, interweaving with another to create a nature-inspired organic display. The glass straws can be used time and again, ideal for hot and cold drinks, with their visual appeal transforming them into items we can use every day with joy!

Designer: Benjamin Hubert of Layer with Surface Magazine

These colourful chairs and screens were surplus parachutes once upon a time!

Today designers leave no material untouched in their attempt to create the most unique and innovative designs. Whether it’s recycled metals, cork, coconut fibers, you name it and the best of designers can incorporate it! Benjamin Hubert’s design agency Layer and the responsible fashion studio Raeburn came together to explore such a territory. Their ‘Canopy Collection’ consists of recycled parachute material wrapped over welded steel frames to create four rocking chairs and two screens. The collaboration was an attempt to merge both the respective brands’ passion for sustainability and their ever-growing interest in “recontextualizing undervalued materials”.

Designers: Layer x Raeburn

Combining two completely different worlds; industrial design and fashion, “The collection presents a timeless design language of strict geometry which acts as a framework for Raeburn’s innovative and forward-thinking recycled parachute upholstery.” Layer and Raeburn scrounged through the archives of Raeburn, to study how the brand has previously repurposed surplus ex-military parachutes to create statement fashion pieces. The unique ideas were transformed and integrated with furniture design.

“The Canopy Collection uses the strict geometry of the steel frames as a base on which to experiment with innovative and forward-thinking recycled parachute upholstery,” said the masterminds behind the collection. It is inspired by the semantics of a parachute in-flight “The lounge chair gently rocks back and forth whilst the re-configurable screen takes inspiration from the section and construction of a wing.” The entire collection reminds me of a billowy parachute wavering in the air, and then subtly settling onto the ground.

Though all the rocking chairs are crafted out of surplus ex-military parachutes and aircraft brake parachutes, they all exhibit varied auras and forms. One of them is multi-colored, boasting vivid tones of orange, white and olive green, while still possessing a very simple aesthetic. The screens are a result of the parachute material being stretched tacitly on the metal base, following a color scheme of orange, green and white as well. Reconfigurable, the screens can be easily opened and closed and moved to wherever you would want them to be placed.

Whereas two of the other rocking chairs showcase a tousled-feathery look, created by draping layers of the material over the steel structure, giving the entire piece a raw and rugged feel. They come in shades of black and white respectively, providing a stark contrast to one another.

Launched during the London Design Festival, the collection is all set to be exhibited at Raeburn’s new SOHO, London store. With an intense combination of fashion, sustainability, a well thought out design, and vibrant colors, this collection is sure to be a hit!

Layer x Panasonic’s line of futuristic products to improve everything, from cooking to skincare!

With our hectic, fast-paced lives wherein we barely get a moment to breathe, paying attention to our well being has never been more critical. Benjamin Hubert’s Layer and Panasonic have decided to lend us a helping hand with this! Their recent collaboration led to the creation of ‘Balance of Being’, a collection of six near-future design concepts that were presented at IFA 2019. The collection has one and only one aim: to promote our wellbeing and help us feel better with products that can be used at home! It explores “how we can have meaningful engagements with products and how we take care of ourselves.” The products consist of a smart cooking appliance, a skin analyzing device combined with a smoothie maker, a smart head massager, an LED light treatment for hair and two more smart skincare devices (yes, skincare is high up on their list of concerns).

“Balance of Being aims to close this gap between technology and our lifestyles, focusing more on human interaction, comfort, enhancing our lifestyles, and providing truly meaningful experiences with technology allowing us to bond with one another instead of our devices,” added Rowan Williams, creative lead from Panasonic Design’s London team. And I must say, their products do seem to be a reflection of that.

The Grow device uses advanced LED light treatment to promote hair growth. Grow understand’s every individual’s hair condition and structure to identify the appropriate treatment for our hair and it’s follicles!

Lift is a smart cooking and food maturing appliance which uses advanced heat and pressure technology, along with a sensor positioned within the device to ‘lift’ the food to its optimal nutritional state or in other words to retain all the much-needed nutrients! The device was created with an intention to encourage all members of the family, including younger generations to participate in cooking and healthier eating.

The Shot is the device I find the most interesting! It’s a two in one skincare device and smoothie maker! The Shot uses a camera placed at the front of the device and AI to analyze our skin. After receiving the results, Shot creates a smoothie specially curated for our skin type and it’s unique needs using a concoction of frozen fruits and vegetables. The smoothie is jampacked with vitamins and minerals to enhance your health, giving you the perfect radiant skin you have always wanted by addressing your health concerns from the inside.

Tone is a skincare device that will sit comfortably on our necks while using LED and steam treatment to improve our complexion and health of our skin. It uses AI to examine our skin, and devices a personalized self-care regime, so our skin has the glow it truly deserves!

Need a stress-relieving head massage? Well, that’s exactly what Wave is here for. Wave is a smart massaging device that can be used to relieve stress anywhere at any time (yes, even at work)! The portable massager maps and evaluates the level of tension and then determines the length of time, method and intensity of the treatment.

Layer and Panasonic have added another handy skincare device, but one that works when we’re asleep! It understands the needs of skin even in our sleeping state, to provide us with a lighting and steam treatment that enhances our skin. Asleep or awake, it seems like the Balance of Being has got all our needs covered!

“We are curious about how we engage with products and the knowledge that they can build of us and our families,” said Panasonic Design’s creative director, Takehiro Ikeda. And it seems like their curiosity has lead to a series of products that provide assistance in almost every aspect of our personal health and well being. We don’t know when these products will be available to the public, but here’s hoping it’s sometime soon because we all need some self-pampering and as for me well I need it ASAP!

Layer Design and Airbus bring the ‘class’ back to economy class

The bane of air-travel, aside from noisy children and overpriced peanuts of course, is the fact that you’re stuck in an uncomfortable chair with practically no cushioning and hardly any leg-room. The economy class of an airplane is designed to be just that… economical. It sacrifices comfort, the need of personal space, and probably even its share of functionality just to make sure it can host as many passengers on the plane. We justify this mild discomfort because “it’s only for a few hours, right?”

In collaboration with Airbus, Benjamin Hubert of LAYER Design has developed what may just be the future of the economy class. An 18-month long project, Hubert’s transformed the very idea of the economy class without compromising on the quantitative nature of economical travel. Introducing smart fabrics that fit futuristic possibilities into a single sheet of cloth, and a thin, strong frame that holds everything together (along with a pretty remarkable tray system), Hubert and Airbus’s design, titled ‘Move’, allows seating to remain thin yet comfortable, and even makes accommodations for entertainment, storage, and even the so-far-unsolvable problem of legroom. The result is seating that occupies less space, but doesn’t let that be perceived as a con. It makes up for everything with top-notch design, engineering, and technology, allowing the economical class to feel classy.

THE SEAT – MATERIAL

The Move employs a smart textile seat cover (polyester wool blend – for heat regulation, robustness, and tactility – with integrated conductive yarn) that’s mounted on a robust aircraft grade aluminium and carbon fibre frame. “The knitted seat cover has zones of various density knit that offer different levels of support to the body. Throughout the journey, the Move seat automatically adjusts based on passenger weight, size, and movement to maintain optimal ergonomic comfort”, says Hubert. “This is made possible by passing current through the conductive yarn to vary the seat tension. The passenger can make additional adjustments to the seat based on personal preference using the Move app. The Move app can also be used to engage different seat modes, such as ‘massage’, ‘mealtime’, or ‘sleep’.”

THE SEAT – COMFORT

With a set fabric that can change density, flexibility, and even temperature, the Move doesn’t need to worry about integrating foam panels for cushioning, and even ditches the reclining mechanism. The reclining mechanism helps chairs feel more relaxing by changing one’s posture. However, a posture change also results in the eternal legroom problem. “The position of the seat is fixed – which addresses the issue of ‘legroom rage’ caused by passengers unnecessarily reclining on shorter flights”- instead, the chair’s fabric possesses the ability to learn from your posture, build, and body temperature, helping you sit in a way that feels comfortable to you. This could mean heating the chair up or cooling it down… or even tightening the fabric near the kidneys for greater lumbar support, or relaxing the overall textile for a more hammock-like feel.

THE TRAY TABLE + STORAGE

The Move also integrates a display and tray unit on the back of each seat. The display unit delivers key information, and even comes with an optional In Flight Entertainment module that can fit in its place. The tray unit combines functionalities too, serving as an emergency exit map when closed, and a fully height-adjustable tray when opened out. Right under it is a pocket to store your belongings, and the Move even comes with a sleeve to store laptops and tablets underneath the seats (between individual chairs). The laptop sleeves come made with a pressure sensitive yarn too, reminding you to collect your belongings while deboarding the plane.

DESIGN DETAILS

Move’s design is quite a departure from the usual defensive design of economical class seating which sort of acts as a psychological reminder that the Business Class is better and more desirable. Hubert uses a beautiful gradiented fabric to make the plane’s interiors more eye-catching, feeling more like a theater and less like the waiting room at an ER. Height adjustable armrests let you go from compartmentalized to bench-style seating, and the headrests even curve inwards, providing a great pillow to rest your head against, while also allowing you to get that private, cocooned feeling. My favorite detail is the fact that they even come with the seat number embroidered/printed directly on the headrest so you’ll never find yourself struggling to locate your seat by constantly holding up your boarding pass to double check for your spot! And it does all this without altering or tinkering with the orientation or the layout of seats, but rather just upgrading the seat as a singular unit.

Designers: Benjamin Hubert (LAYER) & Airbus.