You won’t find a sexier TV on the Consumer Electronics Show floor in Las Vegas than Samsung’s S9W Curved TV. A voluptuous 82-inch arched screen perched atop a minimalist cube, it’s the result of a partnership between the electronics giant and Yves Béhar, the industrial designer behind such beauties as Ouya, the easily-modded Android game console, and the multiple award-winning Jimmyjane sex toys.
While many consumer electronic dilettantes know only Apple’s Jony Ive, design fetishists know Béhar as the “It Boy” of industrial design. Wired profiled the Swede in 2006 for his design of the One Laptop One Child XO device, delivered to children in developing countries:
His massive chandelier for Svarowski—a loose tangle of organic curves hanging at JFK airport—hardly seems imagined by the same guy who fashioned Aliph’s noise-canceling Jawbone headset with its hard metal angles and a line of bouncy rubber clogs for Birkenstock.
Now, through his industrial design and branding firm Fuseproject, Béhar is on to giant TVs—or, as he’s credited with writing in a press release, “art.”
“The S9W is meant to be displayed, and begins the idea of combining autonomous displays with technological art,” Béhar wrote. Though the availability date and price for this objet d’TV isn’t yet announced, it ain’t gonna be cheap. Here’s what the discerning collector can expect for her truckload of arms and legs:
- An 82-inch curved 4K display which automatically pivots towards the viewer.
- A cube which doubles as a pedestal and housing for hardware and speakers.
- When turned on, the cube lights up and lifts its top, revealing the sound system.
“Our design gives an answer to a simple question: what is the best way to display this sculpture?” Béhar says of Samsung and his work of “art.” And just like art, most people can’t afford to have it in their homes. Then again, the S9W likely won’t increase in value.
Lead image courtesy of Samsung
