LG SIGNATURE Monocle
The Art of Technology
Unequalled in the world of home appliances, LG SIGNATURE is all about combining discerning design with bold technology. Here, we learn how the brand makes living well an effortless pleasure.
Where Design Meets Innovation
LG SIGNATURE is built on the philosophy that art and technology are intrinsically intertwined and that high technology is an art form in itself. We sat down with J S Lee, head of global marketing at LG Electronics, who told us that LG SIGNATURE is able to create some of the world’s most innovative home appliances by first understanding the needs of the contemporary consumer and then investing heavily in research and development.
What is your brand philosophy?
Our philosophy is the “art of essence” but what does that really mean to our customers? We often claim that art and technology are inseparable. What we mean is that new genres and methods within the art world often coincide with the development of new technology. Innovation fuels new art forms and vice versa. LG SIGNATURE is committed to perfecting this intersection of aesthetic passion and timeless value so that it can make meaningful contributions that help elevate today’s ideas of a premium lifestyle.
What sets LG SIGNATURE apart from its competitors?
We have always been trying to figure out what our consumers expect from ultra-premium appliances. To bring them unpredictable experiences and lifestyles, we’re constantly working to develop and improve LG SIGNATURE’s exclusive technologies with the aim of providing them with “innovation for a better life”. It’s this work that lets me say with confidence that every LG SIGNATURE piece has been designed to look incredible in any space and at every angle in addition to delivering high performance.
How do LG SIGNATURE products answer the needs of the contemporary consumer?
Let’s take the oled r television as an example. Its most innovative feature, the rollable display, is quite simple but the core concept we focused on is how we redefine space. Why does a television need to hang on a wall or be exposed when not in use? It doesn’t. Now this television disappears and that allows us to rethink the consumer’s living space. Thinking about the customer has led us to develop one of the world’s most innovative televisions. But the oled r would not be possible without OLED display technology, something LG has developed expertise in over the years. We have a deep understanding of our customers and decades of product leadership experience, which enable us to create the most innovative products.
How important is design to the brand?
Design is definitely one of the main drivers of the brand. LG SIGNATURE is inspired by the harmony between art and technology. In the relentless pursuit of design-driven development and advanced performance, every LG SIGNATURE product is beautifully crafted and refined.
Tell us about some of the brand’s smart technology.
Having acquired a large number of patents, and through endless research, development and an understanding of the end user, we have been able to develop an impressive array of products. The world’s first and only rollable television, oled r, boasts a display that elegantly rolls up and down in three different height settings, each of which serves a purpose. With the LG SIGNATURE refrigerator, simply wave your foot at the bottom of the fridge door and its smart sensor will automatically open it for you. Moreover, LG SIGNATURE Wine Cellar utilises multi-temperature control to create a different climate for every shelf, which means all kinds of wine can be optimally stored at the same time
What is the new focus for the brand?
We’re making it easier for discerning consumers to encounter LG SIGNATURE by displaying products in flagship stores across the world. We’re also continuing to build partnerships that allow museums, orchestras, cultural festivals and high-profile artists to interact with our sophisticated consumers while at the same time providing them with even more life-enriching experiences.
James Suckling
Hong Kong-based James Suckling has been a wine critic for 40 years and his palate is one of the most influential in the industry. Suckling worked as a photojournalist and a political reporter before taking a job at ‘Wine Spectator’ magazine. This background in journalism means that he approaches tasting with a keen eye to the story behind the label. In a normal year, he would travel – from Italy to France and Australia – and evaluate up to 25,000 wines with his team. After almost 40 years, he remains excited about wine and its emotional potential, which is why he is particularly attentive to making sure that he and his audience enjoy it in the best possible conditions.
What makes a good wine critic?
You evaluate the wines that you are tasting first in some fairly accepted ways – how the alcohol, fruit, tannin and acidity interact with one another. But there’s also a more personal part. Simply, do I like to drink it? Would I buy it? As a critic, you have to put yourself in the place of the consumer; you want to find the best wines for people.
And what about a good wine?
One thing that I really like about wine is that sometimes you just can’t explain why it is so good. It’s a consumable that can arouse your emotions and set your mind dreaming. I’ve really been overwhelmed by emotion with wine.
What’s the most important thing to bear in mind when collecting and storing wine?
Collecting and storing wine are two different things but it’s important to understand how they relate to one another. When collecting wine, you have to decide why you are doing it. Is it as an investment? Is it because you want to have certain wines available to drink on a regular basis? Or is it a combination? Then you need to come up with a strategy. You should be buying wines that you really enjoy, even with an investment, because if the investment goes wrong, then you can at least drink it. Of course, you need to have your wine stored properly: at a constant temperature of about 18C with humidity around 65 to 68 per cent and no light or vibration. The right humidity is important so the cork doesn’t dry out, remains elastic and doesn’t let air in or wine out of the bottle. UV light can actually destroy the wine inside a bottle: it changes the chemical elements of the wine and makes it age quickly.
You have come across many wine cellars over the years. Which one is your favourite?
I really like the LG SIGNATURE Wine Cellar: it’s not only functional but also beautiful. It becomes a part of your life. I can knock on the tinted glass and see what’s inside. It just feels good and it’s really fun. Of course, I like that it’s functional too. You can set the temperature so you have red wine at 18C, white wine at 14C and sparkling wine at 10C or 12C. They can all be the same temperature for long-term storage but this way they’re the temperature you want to serve them at.
Does that mean that wine straight out of the fridge could be served at the wrong temperature?
Quite often people serve reds too warm and whites too cold. This happens in homes and restaurants. If you serve red too warm, all of a sudden alcohol starts coming out. You get bitter flavours; it doesn’t taste nice. And with white, if it is too cold, you can’t taste anything. It’s like drinking cold lemon juice so you really have to be careful. The LG SIGNATURE Wine Cellar is a fantastic way to store wines because great wines should be part of your life. A lot of people say they keep their wine in professional storage but that’s a whole different idea from having something like the LG SIGNATURE Wine Cellar. That’s how I live: having bottles with you, within reach.
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas
Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas has been co-heading Studio Fuksas with his wife, Doriana, since 1985. Today, the studio has outposts in Rome, Paris and Shenzhen. The pair have worked on spectacular projects around the world, from Vienna’s Twin Towers to the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa. Long fascinated by architecture that is created digitally, known as parametric design, today Fuksas continues to be inspired by the potential that technology has to improve people’s lives. That’s a great match with LG’s philosophy of ‘art meets technology’ and is the reason why Fuksas collaborated with the brand on and installation, ‘Infinity’, for Berlin’s consumer electronics fair IFA in 2019.
What is your practice’s philosophy?
We are working for human beings. We want people to live better. The most important questions are about quality of life. We have to give back to the world – the heritage we have now is what we have to give to the new generation. What we’re doing today must be kept for the future. In our architecture, we want to help others understand the relationship between people. We are doing a lot of work on big spaces: we want people to meet each other, to help each other create a better world. My philosophy is to give my positive emotions to people. Clients don’t ask us just for some office or some houses – they ask us for emotions.
What are your feelings about LG SIGNATURE?
We are used to building huge buildings, airports, towers. But LG products can give inspiration via fantastic technology. To me, luxury is an unconstrained, minimalistic place where people can breathe freely, rest, eat and love. LG SIGNATURE embodies this, which is why I’m proud to have partnered with LG at ifa 2019. LG SIGNATURE is the interaction of art and technology in its purest form and has come to define luxury in the home. One item, such as a freezer, can be like a sculpture. Sometimes an object can look like an artwork. It can be not just a part of your kitchen but part of your life.
What do you think about the relationship between design and technology?
Design and technology are part of the same world. My dream is to work on technological pieces: maybe a fridge-freezer or a washing machine. I want to be part of this technology, part of this process. I want always to surprise myself. I don’t like to do the same sort of projects all my life. Every day I’d like to do a new project, develop a new concept. I don’t want to copy myself.
And what about the link between art and technology?
Today art and technology are the same thing. They are part of the same question about how to create a better world and a better life. This is the future: I am not afraid of AI. It’s part of our lives.
Tech Mate
Few brands can rival LG’s astonishing growth, something that can be attributed to its working practices and unwavering dedication to the pursuit of excellence. LG SIGNATURE is the culmination of all this know-how and dedication: a premium line of products that aims to merge art with technology and improve the lives of its customers.
According to LG, its ultimate goal is to be the market leader in business performance and management practices. It aims to achieve this with jeong-do, an ethical code that promotes internal development and fair competition, values are rooted in the company history.
Founded in 1947, Lucky Chemical Co produced Korea’s first cosmetic, Lucky Cream, and a range of products before establishing Goldstar, an electric machinery manufacturer and precursor to LG Electronics, founded in 1958. It launched South Korea’s first radio in 1959 and by 1969 had opened manufacturing facilities at home and abroad and was producing telephones, refrigerators and televisions. Between 1970 and 1994, the company and its subsidiaries experienced immense growth and a series of firsts for South Korea – colour televisions, vcrs, mini computers and a Korean Series-winning baseball team. In 1995, the Lucky Goldstar Group changed its name to LG and acquired America’s largest home-appliance company, cementing its place as one of the world’s most important electronics firms.
By 2016 the company was ready to launch LG SIGNATURE, the ultra-premium brand that unites the best of LG design and technology in one focused high-end endeavour. LG SIGNATURE represents the pinnacle of LG’s capabilities with a collection of high-functioning appliances that are subtly elegant in design and unmatched in performance. The line-up includes the ground-breaking InstaView Door-in-Door refrigerator, Twin Wash washing machine and award-winning oled r television. These are all created and built by designers and engineers to levels of quality unseen elsewhere in the industry. This unique attention to detail, which imbues all facets of LG and LG SIGNATURE, from the way it conducts business to its manufacturing, gives the brand and its customers an edge.
Discover more at lgsignature.com
