As a product, Séura’s mirrors are about as unique as they come in the professional integration space. Sporting concealed TVs and embedded lighting that can seemingly appear out of nowhere at times, these products embody the luxury, simplicity and clean design that everyone seems to be after these days. While its easy to assume the mirror aspect would limit the product to bathrooms, the reality is that every space in the home from spacious living rooms to custom home gyms have seen a Séura product adorn their walls at some point.
We sat down with Director of Residential Sales, Tony Blodgett to talk more this often unseen side of the product as well as the trends that are driving lighting and entertainment into the realms of the unconventional, yet strikingly aesthetic.
CE Pro: Séura has a rather unique product for custom integration so I’d love to hear in your words how they might fit into a dealer’s business?
Blodgett: As unique as our Mirror Technology is for our dealers and their clients, the applications where Séura Mirror Technology fits are very common. Our dealers have an opportunity on every project, residential and commercial, to upgrade standard mirrors with Séura Mirror Technology.
Selling Mirror Technology as a category on every project provides our dealers an incremental revenue product category, and most importantly enhances their customers’ experiences in their home or business beyond what they thought was possible.
CE Pro: Would you care to go into more detail regarding how you see your products providing value with the current layered approach to lighting design?
Blodgett: Combining accent lighting with Mirror Technology can complement the experience dealers are providing with their lighting control, fixtures and design services.
I encourage dealers to ask their clients and specification partners “What are we doing for task lighting at the bathroom vanity and other readiness areas.” Lighted TV Mirrors and Lighted Mirrors can serve as supplemental task lighting, providing a solution the end user needs but is often missed in those spaces where folks start and end their days.
CE Pro: Gyms have stood out as a spot in the home I wouldn’t have immediately pictured putting a Séura mirror in and yet when I see it, it makes total sense. Are there any other locations you have found that make a lot of sense that most people aren’t aware of? How do you convey those opportunities to integrators?
Blodgett: Absolutely, the at-home interactive fitness routine is a trend very much supported with TV Mirror Assemblies in home gyms, yoga studios and other fitness areas. Or, if you’re like me, it’s a great solution to pretend to work out while watching Golf Channel!
Other applications with custom mirror assemblies driven by our large format Séura Smart TVs include back bars, walk-in closets, and living areas where a mirror becomes the design centerpiece of the space.
Séura Vanity TV Mirrors are in the CEDIA Hall of Fame, but to most folks even bathroom vanities remain a unique application as it’s a non-traditional space for AV. Yet, every bathroom needs a mirror and lighting, so every project has an opportunity for Séura Mirror Technology throughout the bathrooms of the home.
To help our integrators identify these opportunities we have a couple of key project tools: our new Project Budget Guide to help them present Mirror Technology as a category on every project, complemented by our current Mirror Technology Bundle Program which provides incentives for including multiple TV Mirror Solutions on each project.
CE Pro: Design-forward technology has become a major success factor on projects these days. How do you see Séura’s products and services supporting integrators in these endeavors?
Blodgett: Perfectly! Our mission is to provide the perfect harmony of technology and design.
TV Mirrors provide a vanishing technology solution in spaces of the home where either one, the end user wants a TV but the designer needs them to have a Vanishing TV Mirror; or two, where they know they need mirrors but also want a TV while maintaining high design.
Lighted TV Mirrors and Lighted Mirrors provide a solution to combine the best of all worlds for bathroom vanities and other readiness areas: highest quality mirrors personalized for each space, supplemental task lighting for folks to start and end their day, and the top-performing vanishing TV to have on while getting ready or watch while soaking in the tub.
To help support their partnerships with designers and architects, we have our “Science of Lighting” CEU Course available. We also partner with HTA to help promote design technology as a category to the A&D community. The goal is to convert compromise to collaboration.
CE Pro: Séura Contract was a big bit of news for you guys recently. Could you talk more on the hospitality portion of your business and how the company is supporting projects outside of residential integration?
Blodgett: Hotels and large-scale commercial applications have been core channels for Séura since our founding in 2003. They are very different industries from our core AV Integration channel, but they help promote Mirror Technology Solutions to end users for their homes.
Hotels want to provide guests a unique experience when they are away from home. Séura Lighted TV Mirrors and Lighted Mirrors – Lighted Mirrors being by far the number one product category for hotel and commercial applications – started decades ago in the hospitality industry as a unique mirror design that also serves as a light fixture.
Eventually, and it continues to this day, the evolution of those products drives more and more opportunities into the residential markets and, subsequently, as an incremental opportunity on every project for our AV Integration Partners.
CE Pro: Could you go into a little bit more detail why you chose that LG’s webOS as the platform for your TV mirrors and the value you see it adding?
Blodgett: The recent launch of our new Séura Smart TVs is the most impactful product innovation for our TV Mirrors in over 15 years! They are Séura TVs, engineered and produced with specifications to exclusively power our TV Mirrors for optimal design and performance.
From 21” to 75”, for the first time we have one consistent platform across all sizes. We are optimizing the end user experience with 70% improved performance, and by including smart features using WebOS.
Using LG’s WebOS system provides our AV resellers streamlined integration via IP control. Other smart operating systems would require a separate, unique path to IP control.
Integrators can have the confidence they will experience relative ease of integration while providing their end users an optimal experience with Séura’s upgraded TV Mirrors powered by our new Séura Smart TVs.
