coffee table ‘verre’ doubles as home stereo system with speakers hidden in its legs

Verre is a coffee table with hidden speakers

A coffee table with hidden speakers, student designers Jiung Yun, Eunbyeol Yun, Jisu Lee, and Seonjin Baek conceptualized ‘verre’ with speakers embedded into the four legs of the clean and minimalist glass coffee table, transforming the immobile stand into four functional audio systems.

The approach makes the surround system closer to the viewers in terms of proximity and removes the messy wiring that surrounds sound devices since verre can be wirelessly connected. While verre was thought of for LG Electronics’ academic cooperation project, the coffee table with hidden speakers is not an official product, or even part of the lineup, of the electronics company, but a concept design of the abovementioned designers.

images courtesy of Jiung Yun, Eunbyeol Yun, Jisu Lee, Seonjin Baek

speakers with sensors for volume control

So far, the concept speaker design has two color variants: white and black. Both are topped with glass, which makes verre adapt to its surroundings. Glancing at the coffee table’s legs where the hidden speakers are, the grilles are underlined to let the sounds out. verre has sensors too when it comes to increasing and decreasing the volume of the speakers, so the user doesn’t need to use any remote controls (in case they lose it too in their sofa). The mesh clothing on the surface of the coffee table’s legs can detect the hands’ movement, and by placing them on that part, the user can control and adjust the volume.

images courtesy of Jiung Yun, Eunbyeol Yun, Jisu Lee, and Seonjin Baek

Verre is a functional glass coffee table

The design team wanted to get rid of the messy speakers around the TV and make their speaker design seemingly invisible: the visitors wouldn’t know they’re there unless the host tells them where the sounds are coming from. By screwing in the speakers inside the coffee table, verre grants this wish.

In this design, they defined a new sound device by borrowing the basic shapes in terms of a piece of furniture and the speakers, grill pattern, and UI, and making all of them their own. It may still be a concept , but the idea of having hidden speakers as part of the modern home entertainment system may be a future not so far off.

The article was updated on April 3rd, 2024 to clarify that verre is not, in any way, affiliated with LG and its products.

the speakers are hidden inside the verre coffee table