Panasonic goes Ikea with concept furniture for flat panels

It looks like Panasonic is venturing a bit beyond its electronics-laden comfort zone, with the company recently showing off some concept furniture designed specifically for flat panel displays (or, more specifically, its flat panel displays). For that, Panasonic turned to Swedish designer Axel Bjurström, who appears to have produced at least three designs accommodating a variety of different size screens. The least conventional of the lot is the "Stege" model pictured above, which we can only assume is designed to go along with some magical cordless TVs and other gear Panasonic has yet to announce. The remaining concepts (seen after the break courtesy of Fosfor Gadgets) include the "Ridå," which conceals your 50-inch+ screen behind a curtain, and the Staffli, which opts for an less-than-practical easel-type design.

[PJK @ Oct 5th 2007 5:22AM]

I like the easel idea but they need to slim it down , stylise it a bit instead of just using an easel.

[Joe @ Oct 5th 2007 6:26AM]

Apple should do this me thinks.

[Don @ Oct 5th 2007 7:22AM]

I disagree. The minimalism is what makes the easel attractive. I'd hit it.

The person with the cable question is right, though - this look would be ruined by a cable nest. Perhaps they routed them through a leg of the easel?

[Joe @ Oct 5th 2007 7:55AM]

Form should follow function. Someone forgot that.

[needlegun @ Oct 5th 2007 5:26AM]

One can only hope that the quality of the Panasonic 'furniture' is better than IKEA's.

(Ok, two cardboard boxes stuck together with spit would be better than a lot of IKEA's furniture).

[chris @ Oct 5th 2007 5:27AM]

question for panasonic: where will the cables go?

just my tv needs a power cable it also needs a cable from my aerial, and my sky.

oh and some space to keep my sky+ box please :D

[j0x0r @ Oct 5th 2007 5:46AM]

Good point, Chris! Why is it that electronics manufacturers are allowed to advertise their goods in "not fully working order" - you don't see car manufacturers adveritising a car without wheels do you..?!

Cables are an essential part of the gadgets, and advertising the gadget without any cables can be misleading.

.... but maybe I'm being way to 4n4l about this...?!

[chris @ Oct 5th 2007 6:07AM]

to be honest, i think its just cables look unattractive, so theyre not going to include them as it would clutter the photo. especially when theyre aiming for that minimalistic 'IKEA' look.

cars dont have cables :D! but even that car that plugs into the power to charge wasn't advertised showing a cable plugged in.

i dont understand how electrically powered cars are any more green either, as the energy created was generated by burning a fossil fuel in the first place. At least in the UK im pretty sure its a large percentage of fossil fuel...

anyway, i digress... back to work... :P

[Don @ Oct 5th 2007 8:00AM]

"i dont understand how electrically powered cars are any more green either, as the energy created was generated by burning a fossil fuel in the first place."

That may be, but unconstrained from having to have the power generated in a car-sized object, you can A)make the power generation more efficient and B) institute greater pollution controls.

As for the electric car photo being taken w/o a cable - The car will function without the cable attached at all times. The TV will not :). Perhaps the easel is filled with a ton of batteries to run the TV?

[chris @ Oct 5th 2007 9:09AM]

haha.. idd efficiency... but (almost) everyone who buys that electric car thinks they are doing the planet a favour... they forget completely about how the majority of the power was generated from fossil fuel in the first place.

idd... the car would work without the cable - but like your backup point about the batteries, the tv will not.

[Etrotb @ Oct 5th 2007 5:54AM]

FYI "Stege" is swedish for "Ladder" and "Ridå" is swedish for "Curtain" (the ones in theaters, not window curtains). yeah I know, useless information. :-)

[Kozzi @ Oct 5th 2007 6:39AM]

the second and third look nice, perfect for small apartments :)

[Dimplemonkey @ Oct 5th 2007 7:55AM]

Panasonic - Just slightly ahead of our time.

Panasonic & IKEA - Just slightly ahead of a Brokeback moment with furniture concepts.

[Bloobie @ Oct 5th 2007 8:27AM]

As the piKEA robot from Futurama once said... "Enjoy your Swedish crap!"

[Dan @ Oct 5th 2007 9:03AM]

Yes indeed, rolling carts for flat screens are needed, but Panasonic certainly isn't heeding the call. The cart/tables needed would be designed so that the screen retracts down into it when not being used, and when being rolled from place to place.

[N30 G30 @ Oct 5th 2007 2:44PM]

Why is everyone asking about wires? it's not like it's levitating. Electricity could be coming from the rail somehow.

[carmen @ Oct 5th 2007 4:38PM]

this is why ikea is my 2nd home.

[Sirocco @ Oct 5th 2007 5:19PM]

It seems the more work that goes into the illusion that flat screen TV's can be hung on the wall and have no wires sticking out, the uglier things get.