2023-09-25 00:17:25
Some more, others less, but today almost all homes have something of a smart home, a connected home. From the Wi-Fi to the programmable thermostat and waiting for the refrigerator itself to detect what we need to buy and place the supermarket order itself. But in our homes there are elements that are being left off the hook, that seem indifferent to digitalization.
Smartur Studio
«Despite the fact that new technologies are revolutionizing the vast majority of industries, furniture continues to be seen by its own manufacturers as static elements of limited usefulness. There is innovation, yes, but it occurs in the production processes and in fabrics, materials, finishes or designs, but in functionality,” explains Jokin Zubiaurre, co-founder with Artur Vozhdaienko of Smartur, a Biscayan startup determined to convert the sofa, the closet or the chest of drawers in the new players in home automation. “We believe that in this sector there is a lot of room to do innovative things by uniting design, technology and sustainability,” he adds, convinced that we are facing a “new category of consumer electronics.”
Technology and well-being
«Initially, what we thought of was to design, manufacture and sell furniture to which we would have incorporated electronics, which with that contribution would be different from everything on the market today. It would combine conventional design with the capabilities that technology can add to improve people’s well-being,” recalls Zubiaurre. That was in 2019 and the first pieces of furniture on which they wanted to test the potential of connectivity were the useful bedside tables. Small, manageable and store so many hours of our beloved cell phones, tablets or electronic books… and their handful of chargers and cables.
The simplicity of the designs they created – a minimalist wooden surface that, depending on the model, can be anchored to the wall or supported by a light metal structure – hides the technology necessary so that we can charge the smartphone wirelessly by simply placing it on it and it also has two USB inputs – one conventional and one fast charging – and an integrated indirect lighting system that regulates the intensity of the light by simply sliding your hand along the part of the table where its control is integrated. And all without any cable other than the one that connects the furniture to the network itself.
Liftable desk
Then came the desk that has just been presented at Hábitat, the largest Spanish furniture fair, which was held this week in Valencia and which was attended by the cluster of manufacturers from the equipment, design and wood sector of the Basque Country and Navarra, Basque Living. Once again, the appearance is very simple – it may look like a simple folding board attached to the wall – but you can telework almost from a set table. It even allows you to keep the coffee hot if we place it on the radiant part of its surface. In addition, it is elevatable so that we can stretch out without stopping working and, when its destination is ‘coworking’ type spaces, it can even incorporate presence detectors to save energy.
Along the way, Zubiaurre and Vozhdaienko have been changing focus until deciding at the end of last year that their business model should not be based on the final product, but on the design for other brands of the technology with which to digitize their furniture. «Connectivity has much more potential than we had to design, manufacture and sell furniture, so we understood that we had to forget about that little table or that desk and focus on offering the ‘software and ‘hardware’ that allow conventional furniture manufacturers include digitization in your furniture. They already have well-developed product catalogs and sales channels, so what we offer them is to take one or more of their products and apply the necessary technology to make them more functional. Sometimes, that technology already exists and what we do is look for the most suitable provider and adapt their solutions to the specific needs of our client,” he says.
The origin of everything
The startup tested the viability of its idea by manufacturing a nightstand that allowed you to charge your cell phone wirelessly.
The firm, which is owned by the equipment, furniture and design cluster of the Basque Country (Habic), expects to close the year with a turnover of 50,000 euros and is preparing a financing round for next year aimed at hiring technical profiles that allow them to create their own technology.
Smartur will present its business project on October 17 and 18 at the celebration of B-Venture, the startup forum organized by EL CORREO. The event, which this year reaches its eighth edition, is sponsored by the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment of the Basque Government, the development agency SPRI, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Bilbao City Council, as well as the collaboration of BStartup of Banco Sabadell, BBVA Spark, BBK, Laboral Kutxa, CaixaBank and the University of Deusto.
Smart tables for restaurants
Currently, Smartur is working on the development of tables specially designed for restaurants that want to innovate in the service to their customers. In this case, the surfaces will have integrated touch screens that would allow the customer to read the offer of dishes and select the ones they want, while the hotelier will avoid printing new menus if he has to modify his offer. The screen may or may not be visible during the rest of the meal, as the diner wishes, but finishing it will offer them the possibility of paying the bill through their own point of sale terminal.
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