Nora
How to autonomously create a comfortable acoustic environment at home?
Focusing the evolution and expansion of furniture for the future, I collaborated with Sony Creative Center experts and colleagues from diverse disciplines to craft a holistic vision—one where technology quietly supports everyday life and delivers an entirely new user experience, as a result, the smart curtain Nora was born.
Smart Furniture
Tangible Interaction
Acoustic
AI system
Year
Time
Team
Role
2025
1 Week
5 People
Interaction Designer
SCENARIO
Sound Pollution in City Lives
City homes struggle with sound pollution as external noise disrupts comfort and privacy, making it harder to create a peaceful living environment.
INSPIRATION
Where Does Nora Come From
Why Nora?
Nora takes inspiration from noren, traditional Japanese fabric dividers often used in doorways to create a sense of separation while maintaining a welcoming atmosphere.
We chose the name Nora to make it feel more familiar and personal, reflecting its role as an intuitive, everyday companion in your home.
Why a curtain?
Curtains have long served as a barrier between our homes and the outside world, softening harsh light to create a more comfortable atmosphere. Building on this familiar role, we’ve reimagined the curtain as a smart acoustic filter—one that not only controls light but also curates the soundscape of your space.
CONCEPT
A Smart Acoustic Curtain
Nora is a smart curtain equipped with advanced sound-filtering technology, allowing users to selectively cancel unwanted noise while enhancing desired sounds for a tailored acoustic experience.
FEATURES
Noise Filtering & Visual Enhancement
When lowered, the curtain doesn’t block the world — it transforms it and works as a filter. Sounds are captured, analyzed, and projected as interactive icons. A simple touch lets you choose what to hear or silence, shaping a personalized soundscape.
Another key feature of this curtain is that it won’t completely isolate you. Even when activated, while it obscures clear visibility, it still allows you to get a sense of what’s happening outside. This way, you maintain privacy without feeling entirely disconnected from your surroundings.
The AI system is able to recognize different types of sound.
Sound filtering will leave annoying sounds out, let only wanted in.
Shadow patterns are visualized via a projector integrated into the top of curtain’s mechanism.
The sensor integrated into the top of curtain can detect user gestures, enabling intuitive control.
Shadows visuals
We aimed to represent the shadow as an abstract shape, drawing inspiration from Frutiger’s approach to forms and counter forms.
Rather than treating the shadow as a mere absence of light, we explored its potential as a designed, intentional presence.
At last we introduced a subtle wiggle effect to simulate slight movement, adding a sense of dynamism and making the visual environment feel more alive.
INTERACTION
How to Interact with Nora
Nora is controlled by natural gestures. When a user approaches the window, upward and downward swipes on the glass are recognized by sensors at the top of the curtain.
At the same time, the gestures of zooming in (indicating a desire to “see” and “hear” more clearly) and zooming out (indicating a desire not to ”see“ or ”hear" clearly) on the projection on the curtain are also very intuitive.
BRAND
Brand Identity
The brand identity features a simple, modern font that subtly fades towards the right, evoking the soft, shifting shadows cast on the curtain. This gradient effect symbolizes the seamless transition between light and sound, reinforcing the product’s ability to filter and transform external noise.
TECHNICS
Vision for Engineering
Beyond the curtain’s proprietary fabric, the projector and speakers are seamlessly integrated into the slim header rail, which also houses infrared sensors that track hand gestures in front of the window. Coupled with an on-device AI recognition and generation engine, Nora becomes a minimalist, all-in-one experience.
POSSBILITY
Bridging the Gap between Indoor and Outdoor
The light and shadow can be seen through the semi-transparent curtain during evening, which can visually communicate the indoor acoustic ambiance with the outside world, and even vice versa.
With further development and training of AI models, there would be more possibilities of urban landscape with more integrated and complex scenarios, and even develop the cities into unique communities.
