lutron founder joel spira dies at 88
Fascinating story on the history of Joel Spira, who invented the modern switching dimmer and founded Lutron. Plus an earlier article with some fun anecdotes, too. Continue reading lutron founder joel spira dies at 88
moodifier
Moodifier is a small UK startup with a nascent range of IP and Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) drivers targeted towards residential applications. So if you’re an EE or “maker” type who wants to hack together your own residential lighting dream system, at least … Continue reading moodifier
CITP
I’m certainly not a programmer (unless you count 1980’s vintage Apple Logo with the green turtle), but a colleague just informed me of a simple protocol standard called CITP that allows programmers to connect advanced lighting devices: CITP is an open protocol for integration of lighting controllers, media servers and visualizers on a higher-than-control level. It makes it possible to browse a media server with thumbnail previews of content as well as effects, to use the correct effect-specific parameter names while programming and to preview output from a controller or visualizer. It also allows bidirectional DMX, device selection and patch transfer … Continue reading CITP
lightfair 2015: embedded lighting
I’m presenting a 90 minute session at the upcoming Lightfair 2015, titled “Embedded Lighting: The Future of Integrating Lighting into Architectural Systems.” My session brief: Lighting has historically been fragile, dangerous, objectified. Yet new technologies are being developed to permit lighting … Continue reading lightfair 2015: embedded lighting
dalziel + pow
Via Core77: A very fun interactive installation from retail design firm Dalziel + Pow at the 2015 London Retail Design Expo. Daziel + Pow silk screened Bare Conductive ink and graphics onto a plywood wall surface and used the Ototo capactive touch … Continue reading dalziel + pow
plastic logic + flex enable
Some wild flexible screen technologies that in the future might scale to architectural sizes: Plastic Logic is a German company developing flexible, plastic encapsulated organic display technologies with flexible transistors. The company was recently split: Flex Enable is now an independent R+D operation. … Continue reading plastic logic + flex enable
litecontrol’s liteweave system
It may seem a very unassuming product intended for mid-range industrial and commercial applications, but I believe that Litecontrol’s recently released Liteweave product line foreshadows major trends in system architectures for linear and planar lighting systems. At its heart, the Liteweave … Continue reading litecontrol’s liteweave system
zane berzina
Zane Berzina is a textile researcher who created a fascinating project called “E-Static Shadows” back in 2009. Berzina’s website contains an in-depth documentation of her research incorporating LEDs and sensing into textile production. According to her website: Artist, designer and … Continue reading zane berzina
interactive light sculpture from IDEO
IDEO designed and built a kinematic light sculpture called “Edison” at the Epiphany Hotel in Silicon Valley. The LED bulbs fluidly move up and down to abstractly depict various data feeds. IDEO Labs has a great blog post detailing the … Continue reading interactive light sculpture from IDEO
orphe sneakers
Via DesignBoom. Orphe is an IndieGogo project launching “smart sneakers”. Sneakers with 100 RGB pixels and wireless control. Not quite as fashionable as Verg Wang’s collection, but these sneakers will sure match your Dropshades. TGIF, folks! Continue reading orphe sneakers
leo villareal on the creator’s project
The Creator’s Project posted a couple years ago a video on Leo Villareal, specifically about his San Francisco Bay Bridge project, but also including Leo’s commentary on his methodology in general. I love Leo’s awesome scale model (at about 3:20 in … Continue reading leo villareal on the creator’s project
zaha hadid – bee’ah headquarters
Via Dezeen. Another beautiful and absolutely crazy project from Zaha Hadid, this time a headquarters for UAE-based waste disposal company Bee’ah. Cool video highlights the major lighting effects in the project. Continue reading zaha hadid – bee’ah headquarters
lighting OS: mivune
An interesting concept is developing in the lighting industry: Companies are launching generic “operating systems” that manage the core functionality of lighting control across the current plethora of hardware and communications standards, including both old-school lighting-specific systems (like DALI), new-school Internet-based systems … Continue reading lighting OS: mivune
nearsightedness and daylight
Interesting article in Treehugger posits that exploding global rates of myopia – nearsightedness – might be caused by children’s lack of exposure to daylight. Here’s the punchline: While some researchers think more data is needed to confirm the theory, animal experiments further support the idea that being outdoors, and exposure to the light that comes with it, is protective. The leading hypothesis, explains Dolgin, is that light stimulates the release of dopamine in the retina, and this neurotransmitter in turn blocks the elongation of the eye during development. Based on epidemiological studies, Ian Morgan, a myopia researcher at the Australian … Continue reading nearsightedness and daylight
shylight installation at rijksmuseum
A graceful kinetic lighting installation at the Rijksmuseum, called Shylight, from Amsterdam-based Studio Drift. And here is a delightful making-of video: Continue reading shylight installation at rijksmuseum
tundra
Russian installation artists Tundra have completed some absolutely mesmerizing installations: Continue reading tundra
aurora + gooee
Aurora Lighting is launching a new independent startup called Gooee that is focused on creating an “Internet of Things” platform solution for lighting systems. I’m most impressed by the recent presentation from Aurora’s CMO Neil Salt at the 2015 Smart … Continue reading aurora + gooee
IDEO redesigns the light switch
The potential of interns! Design firm IDEO challenged its summer interns to redesign ye olde light switch. Some very creative and impressive results followed in the “Let There Be Light” exhibition. Here is the PDF that documents the results: Let_There_Be_Light_Exhibit_IDEO Continue reading IDEO redesigns the light switch
cooledge lighting
I just realized I’ve never given Cooledge Lighting a dedicated post, despite covering their “stealth mode” and academic background at Rogers Research Group. Cooledge Lighting is exploring LEDs set in sheets of flexible plastic substrates. They’re following the core tech trends of … Continue reading cooledge lighting
bosch rexroth – roll to roll plastic electronics
Without a doubt in my mind, the future for the lighting industry will be heavily based on roll-to-roll electronics assembly processes. The use of individually assembled printed circuit boards makes little sense for many lighting applications, such as many common linear … Continue reading bosch rexroth – roll to roll plastic electronics
Lucept 