Dezeen and MINI World Tour: San Francisco designer Yves Behar, who recently launched a keyless lock controlled by a smartphone, discusses his vision for how technology can be successfully integrated into the home in this movie filmed in Milan.
Speaking at our Dezeen and MINI World Tour Studio at the MINI Paceman Garage during Milan design week, Behar says that design for the home has been slow to embrace technology.
"What we see here [in Milan] from the Italian manufacturers is very safe," he explains. "On the other hand, you have a world of technology that's very dynamic. What I'm missing is for those two worlds to come together more."
"It's not about putting a speaker in a chair, or putting a TV in a bed. That's not how technology and the home intersect. For me, it's about sensors, about the home knowing where you are."
In May this year, shortly after we filmed this interview, Behar launched a new company and product called August Smart Lock, which replaces physical keys with a smartphone app and opens automatically as you approach the door.
"Cars have been like this for years," Behar says in the movie. "Keyless entry in a car is something that we're used to. Somehow, the home has been very resistant to this. Some of it has to do with security, but today we know that technology, when things are invisible, is actually safer than physical artefacts."
Looking to the future, Behar believes that wearable technologies, such as the Up wristband he designed for San Fransisco company Jawbone, provide an exciting opportunity for integrating technology into the home.
"The next step for me with the Up is how it talks with the rest of the home," he says. "It's an object that can tell the home where I am and what I'm doing. Am I tired from a long day so the lighting should be really mellow and calm, or do I need to be energised so the ambience is going to be rocking? Am I about to get home, so maybe the temperature should go up?"
He concludes: "There are all kinds of new intuitive ways that these technologies that we're wearing can interface with the technologies in our home. For reasons of efficiency, but also for having a home that responds to you in ways that are going to be magical."
See all our stories about Milan 2013.
The music featured is a track called Divisive by We Have Band, a UK-based electronic act who played at the MINI Paceman Garage in Milan on Friday. You can listen to the full track on Dezeen Music Project.
