'Simplicity is the means of change'

By Park Jin-hai

Erwan Bouroullect

The television has evolved into a high-tech electronic gadget. But, Samsung’s latest Serif TV that French designer duo Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec designed is more like furniture than a TV.

The wooden picture framed TV with a fabric backing and four detachable legs is the brother designers’ first project with a big name electronics company.

Erwan, who gave a presentation at the Seoul Living Design Fair, said simplicity is what it is for.

“One of the consequences of the buying all the time and being fanatic about it is that a lot of products lose universality. I don’t feel that is the right direction,” he said, raising the question of people’s insatiable desire to buy products.

“One of the ways to solve the social issues including ecology and economy to me is less consuming but for better consuming. For me simplicity is quite a good answer. It is means change to me.”

His philosophy has been reflected on designing the Samsung Serif TV.

Samsung’s Serif TV designed by brothers, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullect

“We sometimes feel that TV has become too much of a monument. What I wanted with it was to make it more like me and people I like. Stay quiet, participate but don’t shout. We need you but collaborate with and don’t exclude what is surrounding you,” he said. “We wanted to make it connect to the world of objects and furniture, not to the world of technology.”

To do so, Bouroullec used techniques people use to design furniture. “As soon as Samsung screens arrived in our studio, we tried to build them again with wood and plaster,” he said. “Serif is a one off collective frame. It is connected to the old idea of framing a picture. Of course, TV is for live pictures, but the humanities have always been dealing with frames around a picture.”

Erwan said that he sees a long-term trend that goes away from conventional industrial production and toward simplicity.

“A lot of things and a lot of shapes in matter surrounding us will be changing. It is positive because it is just dealing with what we are now,” he said. “It is true that the nature of production makes us turn to more simple shapes. Before, things were based on decoration and this will disappear in time.”