UPDATE: Feb-2016 — the original GE video link is gone, but I found the commercial again in YouTube. If it is missing, search “GE Enhance Your Lighting”. Philips vs. GE vs. Cree. LED lighting has gone all Madison Avenue. I’ll … Continue reading LED lighting ad smackdown!
Philips Lighting has finally decided to part ways with two long-running R+D side projects so that it can finally focus once again on being the preeminent lighting company in the world. The history of Philips, and why exactly Philips now sells a product range … Continue reading philips lighting finally ditches healthcare and consumer product divisions
I love this photograph by Jeff Wall, a Canadian photographer. This really should be a lighting consultant’s office somewhere. Or a really cool conference room at Philips? Jeff Wall After ‘Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue 1999–2000 Transparency in … Continue reading just a few light bulbs
Via Dezeen: A responsive glass facade reacts to wind passing overs its surface, scattering triangular patterns of light and shadow in this installation at Now Gallery London by Dutch designer Simon Heijdens (+ movie). The effect of Simon Heijdens’ Shade … Continue reading simon heijdens
Quarkstar is an LED startup venture that has developed a unique fixture concept with an extruded TIR-based light-guide that generates a combination of direct/indirect light. Their first application utilizes a combination “bat wing” asymmetric uplight distribution for ceiling illumination and … Continue reading quarkstar
LuminAID is a solar powered, inflatable light source intended for emergency aid and humanitarian relief developed by two architecture students. From their website: The LuminAID solar light was designed to fulfill the basic need for light in post-natural disaster situations … Continue reading luminaid
Zumtobel formally announced that Rogier van der Heide is becoming their Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Design Officer. Rogier was previously the Chief Design Officer for Philips Lighting, where I worked for him as part of the Iconic Projects Team … Continue reading rogier van der heide joining Zumtobel as CMO and CDO
According to Dezeen: Italian decorative lighting company Flos is being sold to a private equity investment firm for 400m Euro. The article also mentions that Flos reportedly earns about 150m Euros a year. The Dezeen article includes a brief history of the company. Continue reading flos being sold for 400m euros
I missed this announcement back in May, but the team over at Lumenpulse (including many of my former CK colleagues…should I call them “frienemies”?) launched an LED cove product using a custom ASIC driver chip that runs an AC-system topology. Lumenpulse is advertising … Continue reading lumendrive from lumenpulse
Via Core77: IKEA has just made an investment in a UK-based venture start-up called DesignLED Products that is developing another flexible LED panel. DesignLED is encapsulating LEDs directly into a flexible light-guide, with etched diffusion optics on the surface of the film. Interesting, as … Continue reading designLED products
Casa in Puglia — a beautiful Italian house project in Arch Daily by architect Peter Pichler Architects that makes use of patterns generated by parametric techniques. “Casa in Puglia / Peter Pichler Architects” 20 Dec 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 21 Aug 2014. <http://www.archdaily.com/?p=97484> Continue reading casa puglia
Sun-Tec is a small Swiss manufacturer of transparent SMD (surface mount device) films using either transparent conductive layers or printed conductive traces. At this point, I’m guessing most lighting people have seen the trick where LEDs appear to float in … Continue reading sun-tec
Cool Hunting ran a piece on Technogym’s Italian headquarters and production facility designed by Antonio Citterio and Partners. What an amazing building. Gorgeous use of daylight, natural materials, and electric lighting. The production floor looks more spectacular and accommodating than some hotels … Continue reading technogym headquarters
Check out this fantastic story about a project from Color Kinetics called the LightAide, a novel device that is being used to help stimulate and educate children with severe sight disabilities. It is being sold through the Perkins School for the Blind. Continue reading lightaide
I will present a talk on the “The Evolution of Adoption” for LED systems, considering what innovation possibilities lie in the convergence of Connected Lighting, Embedded Lighting, and Sustainable Lighting, at the SSL Ecosystem Conference, September 23, 2014, at the Cambridge … Continue reading SSL Ecosystem Conference
Check out the new fact sheet published by the DOE. It helps to clarify and dispel some of the myths surrounding LED lighting and its impacts on health. I think this paragraph is the perfect summary: What may be beneficial for an occupant during the day may be harmful at night, and may vary significantly between individuals in a given space. Complicating things even more is the need to balance the desire for alertness with preservation of normal circadian rhythms among night-shift workers, for example. Therefore, even if a prescription for effective nonvisual stimulation is developed, implementing the solution may … Continue reading U.S. DOE releases new fact sheet on light + health
Via DesignBoom: A team of researchers from the wyss institute for biologically inspired engineering at harvard university, have developed a 3D printed robotic lamp capable of self-assembling. Presented at the IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA), the proof-of-concept lamp can be … Continue reading self assembling robotic lamp
This is interesting: A company called Darkside Scientific has figured out a way to apply electroluminescent (EL…aka Indiglo) coating via a typical automotive spray paint process. Their product is called Lumilor and they are targeting the custom paint industry for … Continue reading lumilor: paintable light
How to get the party started? Step 1: Get acquired by Philips Lighting for $735m. Step 2: Quit. Step 3: Launch new startup company apparently just for the hell of it. Ihor Lys, one of the two founders of Color … Continue reading how to get the party started
Historically speaking, architects really gave up the creative power of being “master builders” when “means and methods” was split away from the design side of construction projects and given to the contractors. So it is nice to see architecture students regain … Continue reading Rob|Arch – robotic fabrication in art, architecture and design
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