Ultra-shallow, surface mounted fixtures are becoming a hot trend in the industry, driven primarily by the plunging costs of mid-power LEDs. Lightolier recently released an interesting exploration in this area with their “Slim Surface Downlight” series. Using an edge-lit light-guide, … Continue reading lightolier slim surface downlight
I love seeing the impact of various LED technologies on different applications. Edge lighting of light guides has been around for decades, but now combined with ultra-small and ultra-cheap mid-power LED packages, a range of new capabilities is emerging. I … Continue reading fotodiox flapjack studio lights
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
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
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
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
And now…a special presentation for a friend of mine who has a new interest in all things Zumtobel: A few pictures that I snapped of the Austrians’ booth at Light + Building. Congratulations! Continue reading light + building 2014: zumtobel
LG, through both its LG Innotek and LG Chem groups, seems to be investing rather heavily in design — and it is starting to show off in their lighting offerings. Although it all feels like LG is merely “testing the … Continue reading light + building 2014: LG
I can’t possibly chronicle all the gorgeous design in the decorative halls at L+B, but one company especially caught my eye (again…I noticed them last L+B, too): Tunto, a Finnish lighting manufacturer that discretely integrates LED lighting into beautiful plywood … Continue reading light + building 2014: tunto
Light + Building is a beast. Every two years, close to 200,000 people, thousands of manufacturers, journalists and customers from the lighting and building automation industries descend on Frankfurt’s sprawling Messe convention center. This is my 4th Light + Building…and … Continue reading light + building 2014: 37 kilometers in 3 days
Plastic Electronic is a German company that makes touch sensitive control panels using integrated, laminated electronics. These sorts of processes might one day be critical for integrating lighting into building materials via low-cost processes. Via the Holst Center’s website. Continue reading plastic electronic
Via Cool Hunting: A Kickstarter campaign for an interesting little design concept for a portable light cleverly disguised as a folding book. This is just amazing to me: This Kickstarter campaign raked in over a half-million in funding for an … Continue reading lumio
Lighting Science Group has launched a line of LED bulbs called “Definity Digital” that are offering customized spectral outputs for specific scenarios. Their “Good Night” lamp is an A19 shaped bulb with reduced blue-light content– that results in a 2500K … Continue reading lighting science group: definity digital
Ninebyfour is a beautiful, elegantly minimal linear pendant design that uses a unique material source: Felled urban trees gathered from within the city of Amsterdam . Designed by local design shop Waarmakers — they’ve tracked the location of where the tree originally … Continue reading ninebyfour by waarmakers
Via Gizmodo: DropShades — Glasses with bands of music-reactive LED lighting. There is no practical reason for these to exist whatsoever, but if you’re desperate for a gift for someone you know who is a total lighting dork, you could do worse… Continue reading dropshades
Audio gear manufacturer JBL recently released a portable Bluetooth speaker called JBL Pulse with built-in LED lighting effects. Looks a little small for the lighting effect, but of course it is meant to be portable. An interesting mix of audio, … Continue reading jbl pulse
Via Cool Hunting — A cool Kickstarter campaign led by two Brooklyn-based creatives to develop glowing, interactive building blocks for children (it was successfully funded back in October). Very cool. I especially love the physical color mixing. According to the Tangeez site: … Continue reading tangeez
During our trip to Barcelona back in October, we came across a neat little shop called La Case de cousin Paul that sells a beautiful little collection of spun globes. Available in a riot of colors, sizes, and combinations, what … Continue reading la case de cousin paul
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