nendo designs series of IoT home appliances around a simple white bowl

a simple white bowl was the starting point for this series of IoT home appliances designed by japanese studio nendo. the collection includes a smart scale, humidifier, air purifier, light, thermometer, alarm and sensor, all of which connect with mobile apps.

images courtesy of nendo

the 7 products were all given a simple and analogue ‘white bowl’ as the base and a silicon ‘icon’ that symbolizes the different functions. the humidifier’s icon is vapor, the lamp has a ray of light, and the alarm clock has a small bird that chirps an alarm.

nendo wanted to create uniformity between the appliances whilst also telling a playful story around each product. for example, the design of the droplet-shaped thermometer is expressed through ‘perspiration’ produced from getting a fever. meanwhile, the air cleaner has a flower, which flutters in the breeze generated by the device.

the color accents featured on each piece are inspired by characters of ‘kakao friends’, a popular brand in south korea that first began as emoticons of the country’s largest mobile messenger, kakaotalk. the same colours are used in the icons and the interface of the app that connects to each home appliance.

‘the collection of home appliances needed to serve as a bridge between such digital content and analogue content and also needed to create a synergetic effect between the two,’ the studio explains. ‘with this in mind, inspiration was derived from the fact that developing various ‘apps’ with functions that are unique from one another is possible only through the existence of a uniform platform: the ‘os’ of smartphones, which led to the idea that home appliances similarly should have a uniform platform rather than a completely different shape for each product.’

project info

company: nendo

name: kakao friends homekit