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The Circular Economy – but how will it work?
Lighting manufacturers are rightly embracing the principles of the Circular Economy and we’re looking forward to seeing lots ...
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Slow Design: why risk flygskam when you can tågskryt
The Light Review finished 2019 with a couple of pieces on Slow Design (add links). Its one of ...
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The Lighting Tree: Alison Gallagher
Alison is a senior lighting designer with Arup, London. She has also served on the national committee of ...
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Sustainable thinking – just look up!
I’d like you to imagine this: you’re rolling through the Wessex countryside. In front of you the road ...
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Low energy? It’s not good enough
Low energy is no longer enough, we have to look forward to a truly sustainable industry. The lighting ...
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Knock 3 times . . . Light, according to Mary Rushton-Beales
In my time on this planet as a lighting designer it has come to my attention that for ...
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The Benefit of Brexit ( . . . what did he say??)
We’re entering a New Year – and I wish you all a happy and successful one. The general ...
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Women in Lighting: in conversation with Sharon Stammers
I sat down for a Skype conversation with Sharon Stammers to look back on an amazing year for ...
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Slow Design: the principles
A few weeks back, we introduced you to the concept of Slow Design. Since then we’ve been asked ...
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Olafur Eliasson: ‘In real life’ at Tate Modern, London
Chris Fordham writes: Light has played an important role in art over the ages, all the way from ...
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Explainer: calculating Maintenance Factor
Richard Hayes recently took a look at the way that Maintenance Factor is often 'tweaked' to make the ...
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Light creators: the candlemaker
Now here's a challenge for you. Most people coming to this piece will be in and of the ...
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The Status of Human Centric Lighting Today
Here’s a piece of good news: we’re introducing a new Podcast feature for 2020. In the first year of ...
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Explainer: how to choose an electrician for your home
Black Friday has passed and you have received your boxes of replacement lights and want it all installed ...
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LewesLight 2020 is Announced – Huzzah!
A missive arrives in my inbox from East Sussex. My good friend Graham Festenstein wishes to announce the ...
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LuxLive 2019: what are exhibitions for?
I’ve been in several minds as to whether I should even attempt this piece. My recent history with ...
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Slow Design: an introduction
At PLDC 2019, in Rotterdam, the audience was introduced to the principle of ‘slow design’. Dr. Amardeep Dugar, ...
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Light a London Landmark: the winner is announced
It was way past sunset, but if Terry and Julie were making their way to Waterloo Station last ...
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Getting Maintenance Factor right
We recently posted an investigative piece, looking at the provenance of a Philips IP65 batten that scared the ...
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PLDC 2019: a Rotterdam diary (Putting it all together)
And that is a wrap . . . PLDC 2019 closes its doors, the big top is packed ...
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Budget LED luminaires: when things go wrong . . . or not
I want to tell you a story . . . It started with a typical LinkedIn post – ...
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Light a London Landmark: the judges have decided
The closing date for entry was 30th September, so if you're still trying to puzzle out just how ...
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SLL Lightbytes 2019-2020: People|Space|Time|Place
The new season of SLL Lightbytes began in Birmingham at the beginning of October. Joining the regular presenters ...
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I mean, 'whut?' This was a new one to me until a couple of weeks ago. Its not ...
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PLDC 2019: one week to go
By this time next week my bags will be packed and I'll be standing by the front door ...
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Visiting: Otherworld | London
With increasing urbanisation and the constant assault on our senses from work emails, Skype calls, WhatsApp groups, Facebook ...
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The Light Review at [d]arc room 2019
For all those who couldn't make the show, The Light Review let Chris Fordham, our resident product reviewer, ...
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Explainer: Software as a Service (SaaS)
What is Software as a Service (SaaS) When you purchase software, it comes on a CD-ROM or DVD, ...
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How long to become a lighting designer . . . 12 months?
Thanks to Mary Ruston-Beales for bringing this to my attention. Becoming a specialist in lighting design in just ...
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The Lighting Tree: Kerem Asfuroglu
After almost 8 years at Speirs+Major and being awarded the title Dark Sky Defender in 2017, Kerem established Dark Source in 2019 ...
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Integral LED – Official Opening of Aylesbury Logistics Hub
When it comes to managing a commercial operation there has to come a point when issues like Brexit ...
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The hidden problem in sealed-for-life LED luminaires.
The Light Review has been looking at sealed-for-life luminaires; those fixtures that come out of the brown box ...
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Explainer: the Orange Donald
Should I really need to write this? Its depressing to think that, even now, some slack-jawed deniers will ...
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PLDC: a vote on recognition of qualified lighting professionals
As PLDC is the largest gathering of lighting professionals across the lighting design community, its been decided that ...
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Light a London Landmark: designers exercise their gobo muscles
The days of flattening a baked bean tin and punching out a Rorschach-esque pattern to make a gobo, ...
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PLDC 2019 – press release!
This just in from the PLDC team: Online registration closes on 18. October • Pre-convention meetings complete • ...
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Say hello to eFixx
You know the thing; you’re sitting quietly in the garden, enjoying the unexpected sunshine with a fine chilled ...
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Explainer: luminaires and fire risk
We have a somewhat tense relationship with light and fire. After all, for millenia, light and fire meant ...
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Recycling isn’t always the right answer
It might seem strange for the CEO of a recycling scheme to argue that recycling is not always ...
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Explaining: IP ratings
The IP Rating system is there to provide a guide to the degree of protection that lighting equipment ...
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Looking for a new way to specify? Spektd is here for you.
The Light Review’s Lighting Tree asks lighting designers for their least favourite activity in the creative process of ...
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Lighting – who ya gonna call?
I was talking with Peter Harrison, Technical Director at ILP, the other day. The conversation came round to ...
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Bluetooth lighting – renaissance or another false dawn?
Fred Bass turns his investigative eye onto the uncertain world of Bluetooth-enabled lighting. When the first Bluetooth LED ...
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Explainer: understanding lighting Standards
Standards are there to ensure that products and services are delivered in a ‘standard’ fashion. Often, standards refer ...
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Picture of health: A boost for wellness lighting from the Urban Land Institute?
According to The Urban Land Institute the UK can expect a boom in architectural and fit-out projects that ...
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Circadian Lighting? – you’re asking the wrong question
We’ve recently seen the term Human Centric Lighting (HCL) be dropped in favour of the apparently more focused ...
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Explainer: why Power Factor is important in an LED luminaire
WARNING: electrical talk here! Power factor is all about wasting energy. The LED chip is only one part ...
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The Lighting Tree: Rachael Nicholls
Rachael is a Senior Designer with dpa Lighting Consultants, in Oxfordshire. The Lighting Tree is a celebration of ...
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Explainer: Melanopic Lux
At the core of ‘circadian lighting’ is the phenomenon that we call ‘the melanopic response’. This comes from ...
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UGR16: what’s going on?
A year ago, manufacturers were complaining about the rigours of UGR19. Specifiers - or, more to the point, ...
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Emergency lighting obligations explained
Bad things happen, hands get wrung, promises are made - and then we quietly slide back into the ...
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Human Centric Lighting: it’s time for a change
Human Centric Lighting is shifting its focus or, to put it another way, Human Centric Lighting is finally ...
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The security of Connected Lighting.
Jasper Hijink of lux-it Lighting Technology asked me what we've done to promote security in connected lighting systems ...
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The Future for the Circular Economy
I sat down with Simon Fisher of F Mark the other day and we talked about where lighting ...
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The 7-Step Programme to Good Lighting: Step 3 – The Specification
I’m in a hotel room and have just finished what was laughingly called ‘a breakfast box’. There is ...
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Are LED lifetime figures a ticking timebomb?
There is a conversation underway about how we can check the rise of inferior products, poor installations and ...
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Can I borrow your pen?
Last week I wrote about the Climate Change Challenge and its good to see that everyone's keeping their ...
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Chasing the Sun: an interview with Linda Geddes
A few months ago we reviewed 'Chasing the Sun', a book by Linda Geddes that looks into 'the ...
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The Museum of the Moon at Sherborne Abbey
Luke Jerrams's Museum of the Moon has gone on display in Sherborne Abbey, Dorset. From Friday 5th July ...
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The Climate Crisis Challenge
Usually, when the lighting industry goes quiet over something its for one of two reasons; expect a mass ...
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The Lighting Tree: Phil Copland
We welcome Phil Copland to The Lighting Tree.Nominated by Juliet Rennie, Phil is a senior designer with Nulty+.For ...
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Clerkenwell Design Week 2019: on the streets
Chris Fordham wanders the romantic streets of Clerkenwell on behalf of The Light Review. "When in this area ...
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Good Lighting : counterfeit product
At a recent EDA Regional Business Forum in Exeter, the delegates were received with an update on the ...
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Wellness and Deep Biophilia
If we accept that ‘biophilia’ describes our love for nature, then how far does that love go? Day ...
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Wellness: the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design
This planet has, or had, a problem, which was this. Most of the people living on it were ...
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Wellness and Integrative Lighting
We’ve been looking for a term that encompasses the approach that we need to take to achieve a ...
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The Biophilic Office: Living Walls
Why are we talking about plants in offices? Its not the first time that we’ve been fascinated with ...
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The 7-Step Programme to Good Lighting: where does that come from?
They say: ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’ They also say: ‘The road ...
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The Book Review: Urban Lighting for People, edited by Navaz Davoudian
The strapline for this book is “Evidence-based lighting design for the built environment”, which should be warning enough ...
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The Lighting Tree: Juliet Rennie
The latest addition to The Lighting Tree is Juliet Rennie. As we all know, Juliet is coordinator for ...
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The Biophilic office: the designer’s view
Oliver Heath Design is responsible for the design of the refurbished offices at BRE that will become The ...
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Producing photometric data – what do we need?
Specification of data required for a luminaire – photometric data There is a practical reason for data collection ...
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The Lighting Tree: Alex Bittiner
The ground rules for The Lighting Tree are simple. The previous candidate suggests the next candidate – and ...
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Euroluce 2019; the view from the aisles
"I know you. You're John Bullock!" Damn, I thought; the debt collectors have found me at last. But, ...
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Circadian Lighting: improving the care home environment
I suspect that, for many of us, our idea of a care home – whether experienced or imagined ...
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The Biophilic Office, BRE; the researcher’s view
Cosmin Ticleanu, principal lighting consultant for the Biophilic Office project explains the background to the project. 'We spend ...
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The Biophilic office, BRE: the manufacturers view
The Lighting Approach for the Biophilic Office. Waldmann was approached by the BRE to be a core partner ...
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The 7-Step Programme to Good Lighting: Step 6 – The Install
All things being equal, this really shouldn’t be a problem. The problem is – not all things are ...
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LED streetlighting: holy grail or unfit for purpose?
Its probably written into statute by now that whenever two lighters come together to share a soft drink, ...
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MADE BY EMIRATI: a new educational initiative in Dubai
Where do we get our next generation of lighters from? More to the point, where do we find ...
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The Lighting Tree: Ellie Greisen
The ground rules for The Lighting Tree are simple. The previous candidate suggests the next candidate - and ...
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Responding to the SLL Position Statement on Circadian Lighting
The Society of Light and Lighting (SLL) has issued a Position Statement on Circadian Lighting (April 2019). In ...
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Lighting terms Glossary (thanks to SLL)
Someone suggested that The Light Review should have an explainer for all those head-scratching technical terms that the ...
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Emergency lighting batteries – one size fits all?
The technology behind emergency lighting is changing. We asked Simon Coates, Technical Manager of Orbik to tell us ...
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Changing to a 4-day week. Part 3 of 3
This is the final part of Neil Knowles' LinkedIn blog, talking about how he took the plunge and ...
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Society of Light and Lighting: Lightbytes, Bristol
LightBytes events offer a day of peer-reviewed, bite-sized presentations, focusing on key issues relating to lighting professionals and ...
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SLL Young Lighter 2019
Brendan Keely has been on, asking if I can make a bit of noise about the SLL Young ...
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The Biophilic Office: Wellness and Biophilia Symposium
6 - 7 June 2019: a 2-Day Symposium at BRE, Watford How can nature-inspired design foster office occupant ...
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Changing our company to a 4 day week (Part 2 of 3)
The Light Review is shadowing Neil Knowles' blog series on how he took Elektra Lighting to a 4-day ...
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Wellbeing in the Workplace, with the Supply Chain Sustainability School
This event in London on 26th March 2019 was the first SCSS Facilities Manager Supplier Day to focus ...
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The future of Smart City street lighting after Harvard?
The offer of more efficient, cost-saving, almost failure-free street lighting, all thanks to the favourable conjunction of new ...
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I introduced a 4 day week at my company. How did it turn out? (Part 1 of 3)
Loitering through The Guardian a few days ago I ended up with one of those mental images that ...
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Lighting as a Service to enable circular economy
I bumped into Fred Bass at Futurebuild. The conversation, as it always does, came round to what was ...
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Futurebuild: where’s the lighting?
The stated aim of Futurebuild is “to explore and tackle the biggest challenges impacting the built environment and ...
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Retro-fitting escape lighting on residential staircases
Let me set the scene: a low-rise residential block, probably three or four floors of flats, with a ...
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Wellness: reporting the Light Diet
A couple of weeks ago, I introduced you to Lys Technologies and their Light Diet. Read about it ...
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Women in Lighting
“When we talk about women in design, we should not turn it into a minority issue. We need ...
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The Lighting Tree: Stuart Alexander
The UK lighting design community is rich in talent. The Lighting Tree is looking forward to introducing you ...
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In-job training: throwing some light on it
The Electrical Distributors Association (EDA) has introduced a series of Product Knowledge Modules to help wholesalers improve the ...
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3:30:300 – the conundrum for office lighting design
Most of us have been raised with the idea that the single aim for office lighting design is ...
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Wellness: taking care of your circadian rhythm
Never mind those 10,000 steps, are you getting enough LIGHT in your diet? A new wearable sensor from ...
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How to cheat: pricing emergency lighting
Can you price up 212 standard 3W non-maintained emergency downlighters? Best we can do so far is €??. ...
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IoT: who ‘owns’ smart lighting?
The first LIA Technical Forum of the year was given over to a dicussion of the Internet of ...
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Museum of the Moon: 2019 Tour
Created by Luke Jerram, the Museum of the Moon is one of his newest arts projects. It tours ...
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How to cheat: bungs and kickbacks
Earning a living as a lighting designer/specifier can be a challenge. There must be an easier way to ...
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The Book Review: Chasing The Sun, by Linda Geddes
Linda Geddes' new book explores the vital relationship between the sun and the human race suggests directions for ...
Read Article LED dimming – a 2019 update
LED Dimming: what’s going on? I was looking for a replacement 1-10v dimmable LED driver and was surprised ...
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The Lighting Tree
The UK lighting design community is rich in talent. The Lighting Tree is looking forward to introducing you ...
Read Article Emergency lighting – do we have all of the exits covered?
We're so used to the conventions of visual exit signage and audible alarms, but does anyone ever think ...
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How to cheat: ‘Equal and Approved’?
What are we to make of 'equal and approved'. Who is the beneficiary when products get swapped out ...
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The Light Review – what’s in a logo?
We started the ball rolling with a simple line of heavily serifed text, with the ‘I’s of The ...
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The Light Review – what are we up to?
After spending 40 years (yikes!) in the lighting industry I’ve come to realise that there’s only one thing ...
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