Over the last few years, TVs have gotten impossibly thin with equally thinner bezels. While they look nice, we imagine there’s a segment of the population who miss the somewhat boxier designs of old TV sets, which allowed them to serve as makeshift shelves around the house (I know I do). We’re guessing the Samsung Serif was made with those people in mind.
Designed by French duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, it’s an erstwhile regular Samsung TV housed inside a custom-built enclosure that gives it a little more thickness on the top, bottom, and sides. That way, you can set it down without a stand and even use the top to hold various small objects – just like the televisions of years past.
Serif TV gets its name due to the enclosure’s profile, which resembles the letter I with serifs (those small lines on the top and bottom) in tow when viewed from the sides. It’s a nice-looking design that doesn’t change the TV’s general appearance when viewed from the front (it just looks like a thick bezel), but makes it somewhat decorative when glanced at from an angle. A woven fabric panel is installed in the back of the cabinet to obscure all the cables and connectors.
The Serif’s stylish cabinet is matched with a custom remote that, oddly enough, doesn’t look like serif typography. Yeah, even the labels on the remote don’t have serifs in them. At any rate, the TV will come in three sizes (40-, 32-, and 21-inches) and three colors (white, dark blue, and red).
No word on pricing or release dates, but the Serif TV will go on display at the 2015 London Design Festival.