This article explores the emerging trends in design and innovation, focusing on the democratization of manufacturing and its impact on various industries. It highlights the shift towards sustainable and efficient solutions, exemplified by electric vehicles, solar-powered boats, and smart home technology.
Over the last 20 years, it’s been my experience that, once accessibility to previously closed manufacturing opens up, new challenger companies want to design products that defy the status quo. What’s different now is that engineers and entrepreneurs are determined to produce cars that people actually want, not just versions of the same vehicles driven by marketing.
I’m always excited by fields where access to the production tools have been democratised – it opens the door to new types of products and services. I see this revolution happening across multiple industries today. If we only relied on bigger players, things just wouldn’t move as fast, or even move at all. On the West Coast, I have always felt we live and work surrounded by inspiration. It’s a progressive market that industries want to tap into. I remember being a student in the mid-1990s, the teams I was working with were incredibly diverse in terms of geographical backgrounds and skills. I don’t think that has changed in California – an open market for ideas and people is the best way to get innovation, and I can see it happening every day. But there is a danger looming with the introduction of retrograde policies and ungenerous ideas, because new ideas require openness and generosity. I deeply believe that an open and diverse world benefits progress with innovation and design. This is something that fortunately I continue to experience with our teams at Fuseproject both in San Francisco and Tacoma, but with the dimensions of a Mini Cooper. We are designing for functionality and practicality that matches the larger trucks’ interior and exterior volume, and with a dramatic increase in efficiency and overall experience. EV technology has tremendous potential benefits when designed from the ground up, so why not use them?For 2025, we have made some significant forays into areas of major transformation: electrification, clean energy, transportation, the smart home, and healthcare. We recently presented the future of sea travel with the solar hybrid-electric superyacht. Integrated solar panels and batteries enable cruising for day trips using 100 per cent electric power and zero emissions as a result.For longer voyages, such as an Atlantic or Pacific crossing, Solsea offers an 80 per cent reduction in fuel consumption and operating costs thanks to its hybrid-electric propulsion system. Every detail of the boat’s technology is designed with major reductions in cost of operation and carbon footprint. For example, we have replaced teak flooring, which comes from rainforests, with a new formulation of cork made specifically for boats. The material, made by Amorim in terms of how such efficiencies could be achieved in other industries, we’re currently working on a large robotic vehicle to accelerate solar panel installation. It’s an industrial piece of machinery that will automate large-scale solar infrastructure. I’m also working on a project in the domestic sphere with Laufen, with more carbon-neutral innovations and design in bathroom ceramics. These are all stories that bring together the latest technology in fields where carbon reduction hasn’t seen much progress. Everything needs to be transformed for a green industry transition – and with a will to change, I believe that we can create better experiences that eventually become the standard for entire industries.Another area that we see starting to fulfil promises is the smart home. We have assembled the original team behind August Home, the smart lock company I co-founded with Jason Johnson in 2012 and which is still the leader in the categor
Design Innovation ELECTRIC VEHICLES SUSTAINABLE DESIGN SMART HOME INNOVATION MANUFACTURING
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