Barcelona Dect Telephone - SGW Global
Most technology we own has little empathy for the environment that it lives in. This is very true for home telephones, and so Curventa started an internal work program to see what would happen if we took an existing Dect handset and created a product inspired by fashion, architecture and furniture. Barcelona is the result !
"I've long believed that the eye runs naturally from the catwalk to the kitchen."
Anna Wintour, editor of US Vogue
Hidden Beauty
The design is based around the simple principle of 2 perfect halves separating. When they are together you see a simple form with a pure metal band running around the exterior. The delight comes as you separate them revealing the punch of colour and form that brings the product to life.
Inspired by classic furniture
Among many classic furniture pieces we studied the classic Barcelona chair designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich in 1929. The buttoned leather creates an interesting undulating surface that we used as a starting point to investigate a surface that could be used to locate one object with another. In this case a handset with its charging and communications cradle.
Premium thinking
The vast majority of Dect home phones are high turnover commodity products that people discard at a whim. It was important to us that we developed a premium product constructed from quality materials and components that could command a higher price, and therefore higher margin in a market sector that is in slow decline.
Credit: KNOLL – Barcelona Chair – by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 1929-1931
Material selection
We carefully considered the materials to create a reserved and ‘sober’ aluminium and Polycarbonate exterior that gives no hint of the glossy red interior to be revealed. This was created with a UV lacquered ABS plastic to give a ‘piano’ finish that would reflect light and constantly delight.
Unique charging
The handset can be placed onto the base station in 2 orientations thanks to our unique symmetrical charging contacts that we developed during the Torque Dect phone development programme.
Designed by Curventa in London, UK. Manufactured by SGW Global http://www.sgwglobal.com/.
