In the age of the Coronavirus pandemic, the lines between work and life are increasingly blurred with more people forced to work from their homes. This blurring of the line while working from home can take a toll on almost all facets of life: Mentally and Emotionally - through digital burnout and work-life boundary issues, as well as physical - through the invasion of work-related items in the living space. Not everyone has the luxury of carving out precious living space for a dedicated workstation, leaving many in the less-than-ideal situation of using their existing living space furniture as makeshift workstations.
Halo is a wall mounted sconce that unfurls into a monitor screen. Inspired by the act of drawing the blinds, Halo seeks to draw a clear balance between work and life, digital and material worlds. Halo is designed as a response to these challenging times, aiming to encourage a healthier balance between work and life. It can be used both as home decor and as a monitor in a work-from-home situation. Through the tactile act of pulling the display down and poetically ‘drawing the blinds’, the user is encouraged to consciously make the decision to stop or start working, hence drawing a clearer mental and emotional boundary between the two. To respond to the challenge of work and living spaces, Halo’s ability to transform seamlessly from a piece of work equipment to home decor allows it to be especially suitable in the context of smaller homes and spaces.
The composition and materials for Halo were carefully designed and selected to reflect the delicate harmony and balance between digital and material spaces.
At the end of the work day, the tab can be pulled again to retract the display back into the main body - thus poetically drawing the blinds to a close on the digital world, and open into the material one. When the display is kept away, Halo transforms back into a wall sconce, blending into the interior as an illuminated piece of decor.
To use the display, simply pull the tab on the end of the main cylindrical body to allow the flexible OLED display to unroll and slide out, ready to be plugged in for use as a monitor/digital display for work purposes.
The display function can be turned on with a tactile button on the left end of the main body.
The main body housing the flexible OLED display is a cylindrical aluminium extrusion, with the coolness of aluminium representing the increasingly unavoidable digital aspect of life. The circular, halo-shaped light reflector is made of solid walnut, steam-bent to slightly cradle the cylindrical body - walnut wood was selected to bring warmth, life and tactility, balancing out the coolness of the aluminium body.
The light intensity of the sconce can be adjusted through the rotary knob on the left end of the main body.
