IKEA announced in early April of this year that they’re soon releasing a new
kind of television. It’s not engineered with any new technology—at least, not
in the way most people would think. IKEA’s TV, called Uppleva, is more than
a TV: it’s also its own entertainment center, Blu-ray player, and audio system.
Francis Cayouette, one of the designers behind Uppleva, said during the
Milan showing of the TV: “People actually consider the TV as a piece of furniture,
but it is always something that looked very technical, has a lot of cables, is
complicated, and just doesn’t fit in the home environment.” Whether you agree
with this implied credo of a home environment or not, the man does have a point.
He goes on to explain that the idea behind Uppleva was to merge the worlds of
home furnishing and electronics.
The Uppleva center combines the modern LED LCD television with a cabinet-style
table and a built-in Blu-ray player. In a way, it’s only one-third television, but the
display panel that perches above the table is definitely the main attraction. Almost
everything about Uppleva, and its accessories, serve at least two purposes—right
in line with Ikea’s design philosophy.
