Sony Portable Glass Speaker

I don’t tend to write about technology very often because, well frankly I’m more about the cushions, but there’s no doubt that the dumb relative in the corner (as my Grandmother called the television) or the speakers either side of the fireplace don’t half ruin the look of a room. Especially when you’ve worked so hard to create something so beautiful and then have to add in a mess of cables and huge black boxes.

I have painted my own sitting room dark grey, which hides the telly a treat, and the speakers are high on the walls in the corners, but not everyone wants a dark sitting room and, let’s be honest, pretty much everyone has a telly or a music system.

For years we have all just accepted that the technology has to be there and people have tried various, usually unsatisfactory, ways of hiding it. No you can’t pretend it’s a picture over the fireplace. Or a mirror come to that. But gradually the tide is beginning to turn. The technology companies are starting to realise that good quality sounds and pictures are a given. And now that we take that for granted, we want something that looks good as well. Something, ideally, that looks so good that it disappears into the background. Something that leaves the design of the room to take centre stage and not be ruined by an ugly mass of cables.

Usually the tech companies keep themselves to themselves and show their wares in their own places to their own kind, but this year Sony teamed up with The Conran Shop to display its latest products at Design Junction and they asked me to go along and take a look.

I was impressed. First up is the Sony portable bluetooth speaker pushes the sound out for 360 degrees and looks like a light. You could put it unobtrusively on a shelf or in the middle of the dinner table as it has a dimmable LED light. The other, very cool, thing is a short throw projector which can make screens as large or small you want from close up, so you don’t need a huge room.

Stick it on a shelf close to a wall and just project a clock or a view from a window. A view of the clouds drifting over a beach could get you through a dismal November day couldn’t it?  It’s also wireless so no more cables cluttering up the place.

Now while some of you will forever be excited about the latest big tv and amazing speakers and sound systems, the rest of us just want it to disappear until we need it. Finally the technology companies are catching up with us.

I spent a happy morning wandering round Design Junction and can tell you that in terms of other trends, blush pink is here to stay, green is coming for us big time. It’s part of the whole botanicals and plant themes that have been gathering pace over the last couple of years. Geometrics are still there and there is lots of natural wood that is amazing to see and touch. Navy blue, still touted as a huge colour trend was nowhere to be seen although I still think it will be popular. But if you want my tips for next year – green – all shades – and lots of plants. And, of course, a bit of wireless technology just to set it all off.

Here is a little collage I made of 2017: