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Another one . . .
What?
Another light show . . .
Yes! But this one is apparently the UK’s only trade show dedicated to high end lighting specification, and according to the marketing blurb on the web site IS A MUST ATTEND event, therefore how could anyone consider not turning up?!
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So, off to Islington’s Business Design Centre in London we did trot like good lighting sheep, and with up to 5500 lighting professionals over the two days in attendance, it looks like the darc marketing team nailed it.
Consequently, was it all worth it? Read on to find out in ‘The Light Review’s Top Products’ from the show, and there were some blinders (metaphorically speaking, the days of super glary products at least at this show was over, thank God!).
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Davide Groppi:
Davide Groppi: Endless
I’m a big fan of Davide Groppi, so it was great that he didn’t turn up with his lamp on a nail, but hey everyone is entitled to one weird product (check it out, it really is a nail and a lamp).
The product on show wasn’t a light fitting but a lighting system, Endless; and it’s not track! Here to tell us all about it was Clemente Caviglioli, Davide Groppi’s UK rep.
‘Launched in Euroluce, last year and called endless, it’s a product that can bring electricity in areas where you don’t have it. Fundamentally it’s an adhesive tape which can be used with different wall and ceiling mounted fittings within our range. The one on show has a plug in with the controller and driver in the box, but in most situations, it will be hard wired. We always show it quite graphically, but one of the features of this product is that you could paint or wallpaper over it, making it completely invisible.
The transformer housing connects to the tape, which is mechanically fixed, but you can apply it anywhere you want, including textured surfaces such as concrete. The product isn’t stressed in any way so it should have the same life of any wiring. The adhesive and track / tape is patented.’
The advantage is clear; chasing walls and ceilings is a thing of the past with this product, and it can be controlled with most dimming systems including Casambi, with a distance limit of 10m from the power source to the last fitting. Junctions allow you to alter the direction of the tape leaving you free to create!
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Lorelux:
Lorelux: Cloche
Its pleasing to see that lighting manufacturers have really taken on board the need to find sustainable solutions for lighting products, so I was really excited to find Lorelux, a company that has taken this journey for its post-tops, and with an interesting aesthetic to boot.
Emiliano Petrachi, Production manager and Co-Founder from Niteko Italy, took me through what made the product so unique –
‘Our product is unique because we are creating everything through recycled waste. Our goal is to build a new way to produce lights with an excellent sustainability story. We can use, for example, 98% recycled polyethylene waste, which could come from anything such as bottle caps to packaging or even car parts. Currently we have a range of 8 – 9 different mouldings for different product forms and aim to have a maximum of 20 – 30 assorted products in the range in the next few years, for urban and indoor lighting’.
‘The suppliers from Italy that provide this raw material ensure it is all tracked and certified, so we can see everything from the beginning to the end of its life, its entire history. This is important as we are looking to achieve a lifetime of 40 -50 years, as the corrosion resistance compared to an aluminium products is far superior, the material must be up to scratch. It is also vandal resistant.We wanted to be different in some way and use our backgrounds as engineers to make a product that had less of an environmental impact. We use rotational moulding which allows us to create many different forms compared to other forms of moulding’.
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Fluxwerx
Fluxwerx: View
And now, as they say, for something completely different. Well, completely is maybe a slight exaggeration, but its certainly the first trip to this side of the pond for the product. Fluxwerx, from Canada is supplied in the UK through Atrium here in the UK, is the ‘View,’ a nifty suspended pendant which distributes the light through an intriguing transparent design. To tell us all about it was chief commercial officer Jesse Lilley.
‘Fluxwerx is a Canadian company based in Vancouver and new to Europe. Very popular with designers and architects over there, we have spent the last 18 months re-engineering the range to meet the standards here. Called the ‘View,’ it was the very first product Fluxwerx created, and incorporates a technique called Anadolic Optics, a name derived from architectural daylighting where you pipe light into the building, but never see an image of the light source.
The way the light is designed means that it produces little glare, and the name itself ‘View’ was inspired by a nod to the transparency of windows. Optically its very special, there is an up and downlight element, but most important of all the acrylic is etched in such a way as to create different types of distributions. One of the critical things to note is that it is not a typical Lambertian distribution, but a bat wing’.
The thing I like about this product is its aesthetic gives it a very lightweight feel, and it spikes your curiosity, How does that work ? In addition, I was told that the R9 value (saturated red) is above 60 with a CRI value of 90 and above. Office spaces are often overlooked for quality of light in this respect, so it is good to see and helpful to encourage staff back….if you want!
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Martinelli Luce:
Martinelli: Cobra
The phrase ‘design classic’ is often banded around, but for me this next product, from Martinelli Luce, truly fits the bill. If there is an artifact that reflects the age in which it was designed, then ‘Cobra’ is it. Designed by Elio Martinelli in 1968 and in bright red or black, its curvaceous form, and its use of material at the time was groundbreaking.
Available in the UK through Forum Lighting, the aesthetic of the product is that of a cobra (surprise surprise), with a rotating resin arm that gives the impression of either the profile of a cobra with its head erect and ready to attack or, when swivelled round to the opposite side, the silhouette of a snake slithering sinuously, its head stretched forward.
Providing direct light, the lower body rotates on the steel base below and is connected to the upper body by a central joint allowing for a 360 rotation. The luminaire takes an E27 lamp and has an internal reflector in white. When it comes to sustainability the answer in this case is to buy things once and keep them forever.
If I had one I definitely wouldn’t be throwing or giving it away !
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