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My love of electronics, programming, and Hi-Fi landed me a job at a Hi-Fi installater in London in the late 90s who were an early adopter and founding member of CEDIA in the UK. Back then, it was very different and a whole lot more challenging to make things work nicely together, often manufacturing and engineering our solutions to create an early version of the smart home.
In the late 90s, clients realised they could add music, cinemas and lighting controls throughout their homes, but they didn’t want it messing up the way their homes looked. Minimalism was quite big then, and we always had a knack for introducing electronics in a way that was sympathetic and didn’t spoil the interior design. Designers saw and loved what we could do.
The first and most important job I feel is to get to the fundamentals of why a client wants to install electronics into their home in the first place. It’s surprising how this part of the process can take you in a direction neither of you expected. Then it’s simply a case of formulating a plan to make it happen and executing it together.
Accessibility to music and movies has completely turned on its head. We’re no longer running to the local music store or blockbuster video. It’s all accessible from anywhere in the world through various steaming services. We’re really spoilt for choice, and the challenge for us is to ensure it’s delivered at the highest quality – in a way that it draws the listener and watcher in.
Westminster – A huge project for us with a stunning interior design by Rachel Winham. Our installation worked so well in the space. We used some high-performance AV equipment that worked well with the interior design and was incredible to use.
We worked with Ammique on the creation of a smart bed which was a lot of fun. The aim was to create something very unique that could also assist with wellbeing. So we fitted the bed with heating, cooling, circadian lighting and music. Everything was kept simple to operate and timeless in design. So the push of a button would bring it to life, rather than navigating a touchscreen with menus for instance.
We spend a lot of time making spaces function around how people want to enjoy them without intrusive electronics—for instance, turning a serene lounge by day into an exciting cinema at night or turning a functional bathroom by day into a beautiful spa at night. To get the desired effect, it often means creating something bespoke – using and adapting equipment in a way that’s not previously thought possible and creating one-off items that suit the surroundings and décor.
As soon as you have an idea of the spaces and how they’ll be used. Our involvement can often inject new ideas, provide details of equipment sizes and sometimes you will want to adjust the layouts accordingly. So doing this before finalising the floor plans and submitting them for planning can save you time further down the line as well as money and frustration.
We currently don’t carry out the lighting design in-house, but we work with fantastic lighting designers. Most automated systems are wired differently from traditional methods, and careful planning and testing are required to achieve a beautifully lit home, but it’s worth the effort. It adds so much more feeling to a home, which is quite hard to explain, and best to see it in action at one of our showrooms.
MDfx would help selecting the fittings and specking the right technology for a property. If you already have some fittings in mind, we would carry out some tests to make sure they work smoothly with the intended system. We do our everything we possibly can to make sure there are no surprises at the end. Once we handover you can only expect a functional and beautifully lit home.
It takes lots of careful planning, working alongside architects and designers. I always start by hiding away items that have no purpose of being on show or need little interaction. That way, it keeps the walls as clear as possible, so you only have items, such as light switches where necessary. Then it’s choosing finishes for the items left on show that will match the surrounding décor or disappear altogether. Some great examples that help that journey include Sonance plaster-in speakers, Focus paintable wall switches, Lutron Palladiom and Alisse keypads and wall-smart flushing-in kits.
Our job is to guide clients through choosing products and manufacturers that take security seriously from the outset. Having a high grade of network put in place is key, and in the simplest form, having a routine plan to update equipment firmware and having regular passwords changes are vital to reducing any risk.
We love working on all sorts, but dream projects are whole homes of automation. Ones that are timeless in design. So discreet you hardly know they are there, and yet they can spring to life at the press of a button. Changing the whole dynamic of a home from calm, relaxing, and serene to energetic, fun, party, and anywhere in between. Our dream project would be a number of residences around the world seamlessly linked together with automated design including the private yacht and jet. One home One lifestyle
