The average coffee table just got geekier. From the design talents at California-based Because We Can comes an interactive coffee table outfitted with LED lights that glow when they detect any motion above the surface.
Digital Journal — Coffee tables don’t have to be boring. It’s a mindset behind an interactive LED coffee table called The Wave, created by the custom design studio Because We Can in Oakland, Calif. When you pass your hand over the table’s surface, the LEDs respond to the motion and twinkle with a cascade of glowing light. Without motion, the coffee table relaxes with a calm steady twinkling.
“It’s interesting to make furniture that is reactive, delightful and playful,” Jeffrey McGrew, co-owner of Because We Can, told DigitalJournal.com. He says there is no deeper purpose behind creating the Wave other than adding a piece of tech-enhanced aesthetic to a living room.
The table, costing approximately $2,200, is fitted with 480 bright LED lights, along with 32 near infrared optical sensors. A one-foot-by-one-foot circuit board is embedded inside each table, allowing the infrared sensors to detect any object passing over a cloud of light hovering above the table. The LEDs react to any motion occurring at two feet above the surface.
At first glance, the table sort of reminds us of a very simplified version of Microsoft’s innovative touch-screen tabletop PC called “Surface.” While based on the same idea of having an interactive tabletop, McGrew says it’s much different than Microsoft’s Surface. He says his invention, co-created with the engineers at Evil Mad Scientists, shouldn’t invite any comparisons. “The Surface is a more collaborative product, and our table is meant to bring ambiance and mood into a room,” he adds.
Photo by Design studio Because We Can
McGrew admits the Wave is going through a redesign that will turn it into more of a digital table — large pixels measuring four-by-four inches can be manipulated into various patterns and colours. Available by the end of March, this next-gen Wave will include more colours than the mere white LED option offered for the current interactive tables.
“We don’t want to gratuitously add LEDs to any piece of furniture,” McGrew says. “We want to make the product work as a whole with good design.
Enviro-friendly skeptics may be wary of any product that consumes electricity for no functional purpose. But McGrew allays those worries, saying there’s more electricity being used in a phone call than the power consumed by the Wave.
Photo courtesy Design studio Because We Can
Jillian Northrup, also co-owner of Because We Can, states the table uses a total of 35 watts when it is fully active, and the lights can last between 10 to 20 years.
So who’s buying the interactive table? Northrup says many restaurants and bars are interested in the Wave, and several clients bought the Wave as presents for friends.
McGrew likes the idea of this furniture piece promoting interaction. “It’s a surface people would interact with a lot, and it’s an easy target to hit because people like to entertain or relax in the living room.”
Because We Can doesn’t just create techie makeovers of living room standards. Northrup and McGrew have also designed a portable mini golf course, a flat-pack couch, fold-away cubicles and goth-inspired chairs.
For more information, check out becausewecan.org. Below is a video of the interactive LED coffee table in action:
