Samsung Electronics recently announced the global launch of SmartThings Home Life, offering consumers worldwide a more holistic smart home experience. Samsung’s SmartThings Home Life, introduced at this year’s Bespoke Home 2022 virtual event, is currently available in Canada and integrates the SmartThings Cooking and SmartThings Home Care services.

SmartThings Home Life is a new addition to the SmartThings app^{[1] [2]}, which provides centralized and integrated control over your Samsung appliances^[3]. Connecting the convenience of SmartThings services, which includes SmartThings Cooking and SmartThings Home Care in Canada^{[4] [5]}, SmartThings Home Life expands the quality of your life at home and puts you in control, all from your smartphone.

In the SmartThings app, users can simply tap the “Life” tab to navigate to SmartThings Home to unlock a new level of home connectivity. With 270 global partners and the ability to integrate with thousands of devices, SmartThings is currently enjoyed by close to a quarter of a billion registered users worldwide^[6]. What’s more, Samsung’s updated Family Hub further adds to an expansion of experience at home with its new AI features that add convenience to your daily routine.

“Our goal is to harness connectivity between smart devices to enrich and streamline everyday routines,” said Chanwoo Park, Executive Vice President and Head of IoT Business group of the Digital Appliances Business at Samsung Electronics. “The global launch of SmartThings Home Life will expand our services and empower users everywhere to focus less on their daily tasks and more on living in each moment.”

SmartThings Cooking

SmartThings Cooking^[7] is a cooking service that does it all, from finding recipes and auto-setting appliances to managing shopping lists and preserving food^[8]. Powered by Whisk’s Food AI, SmartThings Cooking recommends personalized recipes and meal plans based on users’ tastes, dietary needs and groceries on hand. SmartThings Cooking communicates directly with all of Samsung’s smart kitchen appliances^[9], like Family Hub, ranges, ovens, and cooktops for a seamless cooking experience.

SmartThings Home Care

SmartThings Home Care keeps tabs on all connected Samsung household devices, including Bespoke appliances, by checking their status and usage patterns, providing information about accessories and enabling convenient online purchases. This service sends notifications and guides users on regular maintenance based on the collected usage data such as cleaning each device and replacing specific components. By letting SmartThings take care of your home, you can troubleshoot home appliance issues independently without relying on a repairman for simple tasks.

Family Hub

Since its launch in 2016, the Family Hub has been continually updated to offer the latest in connected experiences for Samsung refrigerator users, transforming refrigerators into communication and entertainment hubs for the kitchen. What’s more, the Family Hub also doubles as a home control for the SmartThings app. Family Hub offers entertainment, smart features, and connectivity to the kitchen. Art Gallery allows households to decorate their kitchens and refrigerator screens with stunning artwork, while Dual AI Voice Assistant enables consumers to access the features of Amazon’s Alexa^[10] and Samsung’s Bixby on a single device. Family Hub’s food recognition technology allows for food and drink identification and management, and Smart Recipes empowers Bespoke users at home to create delicious meals with easy-to-follow instructions.

For more information, please visit Samsung.com/ca.

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^[1] The SmartThings app must be installed and connected to devices in order to utilize its features. Application requirements may differ depending on each device. Available for download from Google Play Store or App Store. The app is compatible on Android 8.0 (RAM 2GB or more) and higher/iOS 13.0 and higher. Use of SmartThings App requires a Samsung Account.

^[2] Wi-Fi connection and Samsung account are required for proper use.

^[3] Supported SmartThings features and services may vary depending on the connected devices.

^[4] Services must be installed in the SmartThings app to be accessed.

^[5] Applicable models may vary by country.

^[6] Based on current Samsung worldwide figures as of June 2022.

^[7] This feature is only available for select models, which may vary by country. The ‘Cooking’ service must be pre-installed on your SmartThings app for this feature to be operational.

^[8] Recipes and services available for each region may vary.

^[9] This feature can only be implemented in select models only.

^[10] Amazon Alexa compatibility is currently available in the US and Canada since Q2 2022.

This 3-part series will introduce the journey Bespoke has taken so far as it evolved to deliver greater value by expanding the capabilities of home appliances.

As Part One of this series, this article will detail the decisions behind the design innovations that evolved the Bespoke design ethos, from colours and cultures to true customizations.

Adding Colour and Texture to “White Goods”

The Flat Style minimalist design philosophy – the theory that simple, clean lines and flush surfaces would be ideal in matching modern home décor – was the driving inspiration behind Bespoke home appliances. Such designs could easily fit into any modern kitchen concept, creating a sense of cohesion with the surrounding space.  In addition, customizable façades on the exterior would allow consumers to express themselves through a variety of striking colour options and material finishes.

Refrigerators were the first appliances in the Bespoke journey of elevating home appliance designs. Since then, Bespoke has expanded to the rest of the home to include an entire kitchen package which now includes ovens, dishwashers and cooktops as well as living and laundry appliances such as vacuum cleaners, washers and dryers.

Bespoke product line up in EU

It became clear very quickly that the Bespoke design concept resonated with users who wanted their appliances to reflect their own diverse tastes, and even the industry took notice. In 2020, the Bespoke refrigerator won NYCxDESIGN Awards in the Kitchen product category and was selected as an honouree at CES 2021, in recognition of Bespoke’s creative use of design in offering users a way to easily personalize their appliances. Bespoke appliances received a silver award and Best-in-Show honours at the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in 2021 and gold at the International Forum (iF) Design Award in 2022.

Since its initial launch, the Bespoke product line would expand into more kitchen appliances and then the rest of the home with living and laundry appliances as well as more colour and material options. The team behind Bespoke’s designs decided that a continuous cycle of new colours for Bespoke appliances would make it easier for users to find the design that best reflects their unique lifestyle.

For users who may find deciding on home décor daunting, in 2021, Samsung introduced the Bespoke AI Recommendation service in Korea. This service helped make appliance designing more accessible with the help of AI. Users would upload photos of their homes or designs they liked, and the AI would analyze the images to come up with colour recommendations that best fits that environment.

As bold as these appliances were in a sea of “white goods,” however, Samsung knew the vision could not end with just colour and material options. With Bespoke, true customization is more than choice – it’s also about personalization.

AI Recommendation

From Colours to Culture

Diving deeper into the Bespoke design vision, Samsung sought to highlight key identifying factors shared by all Bespoke users – a sense of belonging through culture. Collaborating with artists from a wide range of disciplines as well as Bespoke users themselves, Samsung wanted to reflect cultures from around the globe in Bespoke refrigerator panel designs.

This year, Samsung introduced the Union Jack flag as a new design option for Bespoke refrigerators in the U.K., recognizing the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne.

In May 2021, Samsung held design contests on social media in collaboration with designers, including award-wining British interior designer Kelly Hoppen CBE and London-based designer Yinka Ilori. The contests were themed around two of the most important passions in the kitchen – inspirational designs and inspirational food. In Europe, through the #BespokeDesignedByYou design challenge, Samsung invited users to share their own unique refrigerator designs based on how Bespoke sparks creativity in the kitchen. In the U.S., Samsung launched the #BespokeDinnerParty challenge, where users shared their perfect Bespoke dinner party plans with cocktails, flower arrangements, dinnerware and food inspired by bold Bespoke colours.

Before that, many artists took part in developing Bespoke’s designs. French illustrator Hérem added European architecture into the design, while American artist Rementer added colourful portraits of diverse communities through the lens of pop art. Danish design company HAY experimented with natural food-inspired colours and American artist Alex Proba expressed joy and happiness with colourful patterns and shapes inspired by nature.

These artist and user-involved design experiences would serve as a prologue to the next evolution of Bespoke’s designs.

Limited-Edition Bespoke Jubilee Fridge Freezer in the UK

The Next Level of Bespoke Customization

If using different colours offers users a way to be expressive and identify with cultures through a sense of belonging, the next level in Bespoke design would be true self-expression. As such, Samsung is now offering users a truly self-expressive Bespoke customization experience from start to finish.

Bespoke’s concept of true customization began to take shape with design contests worldwide. The excitement and enthusiasm expressed by the participants from these contests inspired the beginning of the digital printing service called MyBespoke in the U.S.

With MyBespoke, Samsung will arrive at the latest evolution of Bespoke design, shifting from self-expression through preselected options to a truly Bespoke customization experience where users can create their own designs from scratch.

At the start of Bespoke’s design journey, there was a vision to inspire users to personalize their homes with designs that truly reflect who they are. With the MyBespoke launch, Samsung is one step closer to making that vision a reality. Samsung will continue to innovate to expand design, experience and customization options to make life at home more expressive and enjoyable.

Designs featured in the images above are not available in Canada

Stay tuned for the rest of the installments in this series. To learn more about Bespoke appliances, visit Samsung.com/ca.

Bespoke Home 2022 will showcase Samsung’s latest Bespoke products and services that are set to provide users with customizable, flexible and innovative home solutions able to match their daily lifestyles and changing needs.

Be sure to tune in to the global livestream to learn more. Bespoke Home 2022 will be streamed live on Samsung Newsroom, Samsung.com and Samsung YouTube on June 7 at 10:00 EDT.