Keeping home automation simple, yet refined with Basalte

As anyone who has ever renovated knows, one of the most niggling of design decisions concerns electrical interfaces. To some that’s simply light switches and plug sockets – once predominately white Bakelite or plastic and now available in a gloriously broad palette of materials, finishes, colours, shapes and profiles. But increasingly the decisions go beyond working out the least jarring isolator switch to integrate into your dream kitchen tiling scheme.

High-end homes have become intelligent – and while this suggests intuitive and remote controls of everything from dimmable lighting to door security, we still need to welcome these smart interlopers physically into our living environment. Which means we require their design to be at peace with our interior design scheme.

One man who recognised early on that a gulf was developing between the fast-evolving realm of home technology and acceptable aesthetics was the engineer Klaas Arnout. With experience in integrating smart technologies into homes, and partnered by his wife Sandra Maes who is an interior designer, Klaas founded Basalte in 2008 to embrace technological progress in the home while not compromising the harmony of its design. He also saw that there was the potential for home automation controls to be made far simpler. ‘Great design isn’t just about making something that looks good, it’s about creating products that inspire and elevate the user experience,’ he insists.

Enhancing the experience while uplifting and unifying the design specs of an intelligent home has become the enduring mission of the Belgian brand, and its hand-crafted products have set a high bar for the industry. Its inaugural product, Sentido, was key to streamlining the operational system for lighting a space by creating a multi-touch feature that allows the right lights to be activated at the right level of brightness with a single touch. Today the minimalistic Sentido keypad can control all the basic automated needs of the home such as music and entertainment, security and climate alongside lighting.

While the Basalte product collection has expanded to include motion sensors, audio speakers, a remote, keypads and touch displays, Sentido remains a hero product, thanks to its ability to integrate into homes stylishly and discreetly. It comes in a range of materials with high-end finishes – among them brushed black, brushed aluminium, brushed nickel, brushed brass or bronze and fer forgé finishes in grey, gunmental, rosé (a coppery pink) and bronze. 

The meticulously crafted products – made by hand and finished in Basalte’s headquarters in Belgium – blend seamlessly into environments with different material accents, be they wood, leather, bronze or stone. Indeed, having that choice can be truly game-changing, as Joel Reis of Life Emotions discovered when building an automation system for the sensitive restoration of a palatial townhouse in Portugal’s Foz do Arelho last year. ‘The finishes of Basalte played a fundamental role in harmonising the modern aspect with the art deco design language of the building,’ he says.

The latest product to join the Basalte family resulted from Klaas’s own need for a door communication system that was worthy of his home’s exterior architecture, while offering all the essential functionalities and marrying up aesthetically with the technology on the inside of his home. The sleek and modular door phone Adelante was born, and includes elements such as security cameras, a badge reader, fingerprint recognition, a tactile doorbell and touch display. ‘At home everything starts at your doorstep,’ he says. ‘Adelante has a modular design with different options at your fingertips including access control and all in our high-quality durable finishes.’

Progress in the field of home automation is often the hot topic when the season for interior trend predictions is upon us. Talk turns to where AI-powered systems might lead, and to fridges that tell you what shopping you need. But while some look to widen the scope of the automation and others look at ways to democratise home technology so that all can enjoy its comforts, Basalte stays resolutely true to its core mission to simplify and harmonise the essential automation needs of the world’s most refined homes. Because luxury is, after all, the marriage of craft and convenience.

© Architonic

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