64. How Materiality will Define the Future of Home Tech with Layer Design

This week WGSN Editorial Director Bethan Ryder is joined by Reiko Morrison WGSN's Head of CMF and Benjamin Hubert, founder of the London-based industrial design agency Layer Design.

Layer recently launched a monograph, published by Phaidon, during the London Design Festival which coincided with an exhibition which ran as part of the inaugural Material Matters fair. The book covers the various stages of Benjamin Hubert’s career and the many products he’s designed for the likes of Bang  & Olufsen, Vitra, Moroso, Cappellini, Muuto and more. 

Hubert had a design career in his sights while still at school and initially wanted to design cars, but went into product design instead and has designed a huge range of products from lighting to tech, and it’s tech in particular where Layer Design excels at creating incredibly tactile products though a combination of materials. 

The three discuss how they see the future of Consumer tech evolving with less screens and a rich sense of materiality and haptic happiness.