When the Swedes are doing wireless charging in furniture, you know it’s the next big thing. Ikea’s had a line of wireless charging lamps and tables for the last few years. Apple has added wireless charging to both the iPhone 8 and X. You’re going to want some wireless charging furniture for both your home and work.
Like any design project, the use of the space is going to dictate how wireless charging can be used. Function is everything. When recently speaking with a friend designing a lakefront property from the ground up he offered some advice. His architect had highlighted the fact that well-designed spaces don’t need to rely heavily on furniture. Design layouts can encourage the use of the space in a certain way. However, it’s also important to remember that design doesn’t dictate how space is used, that is up to the user. With wireless charging though, it’s important to put it in the spots where you want connectivity and leave it out of areas that you don’t.
Where You Want Wireless Charging
Wireless Charging at a Cafe/Breakfast Bar setup
In the workplace, this may mean leaving wireless charging out of wellness rooms. These spaces are for employees to charge themselves mentally and physically and having their phone with them makes this difficult. At home, the one place where you don’t want wireless charging in furniture is your kitchen table. This is a spot for family gathering and getting together, and encouraging device use in these areas can actually take away from the feel of the room.
Have to eat while getting a charge? Consider adding wireless charging to a breakfast bar type spot for quick informal meals or a cup of coffee in the morning. These types of spaces also work great in the workplace where people want to charge their phone while taking a coffee break or checking out newspapers and industry magazines.
While you want your main table at home to be without wireless charging, at work, wireless charging in furniture is a different story. Boardrooms are a great space for wireless charging and where we see them used the most often. Employees and Executives need to charge their devices in meetings but one mistake that is made is not giving them this functional freedom elsewhere in the office.
While boardrooms are the obvious choice, hot-desking situations are also a perfect use-case for wireless charging in furniture. As employees come into a different desk every day, they have the flexibility of leaving their cords at home.
Contested Territory
Wireless Charging in a bedside table – the Ikea MORIK charger
Finally, one of the most contested areas for wireless charging in furniture is the bedside table. This is an area where Ikea furniture works remarkably well, but one where sleep experts may have a differing opinion. While most of us may use our phones as alarm clocks or check before bed and after waking, not everyone believes that this is necessarily a good thing. Discipline can keep you from reaching from the phone before bed, and if you have wearables like an apple watch, the tech will be useful as well for an everyday charge at night.
We’ll leave the decision on the nightstand to you, but for all of your other design decisions, don’t make one of these functional faux pas’ when implementing your aesthetically beautiful, wireless charging designs!
