Arkoslight achieves 4 A'Design Awards
The technical lighting company has achieved a Gold A’Design Award for its Spin product - a suspended luminary; two Silver A’Design Awards for its Thor products –a track spotlight/projector - and Sky –a surface downlight; and an Iron A’Design Award for Drop –a recessed downlight.
Recently adjudicated in Italy, The A’ Design Award and Competition is the largest design competition in the world that awards the best designs, design and product concepts and services. The award is globally acknowledged and attracts the attention of design oriented companies, professionals and interest groups. Winning the A’ Award is a certificate of excellence for designers and proof of quality for companies.
In this 2015 edition, the design of all pieces is signed by Arkoslight’s design director, Rubén Saldaña.
Salone del Mobile Milan conquers
Salone del Mobile closes doors for another year to great acclaim and renewed industry optimism. Having welcomed over 310,000 visitors through its doors - over a gruelling six-day schedule - the Salone del Mobile in Milan closed its doors for another year last week.
According to official figures 69% of the high profile operators came from outside of Italy and there was a strong presence of Russian operators. China proved the leading market and Germany was the second country of provenance for sectoral operators.
This year’s edition saw a particularly high number of visitors from the Middle East; Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt in particular. Visitor numbers from the US, UK and India were also up.
“The data confirms the importance and attractiveness of an event that showcases the very best of Italian and international furnishing,” said Salone del Mobile President, Roberto Snaidero.
“The companies are delighted with the quality of attendees and the solid business results achieved over the six days of the fair, thanks to their own commitment and dedication to tackling and overcoming the tough financial situation of the last few years. The Salone therefore constitutes the first signal of the forecast recovery.”
In the Euroluce halls, the darc team saw a number of innovations, collaborations, and some excellent examples of stand design throughout the week - a particular highlight being Lasvit’s Supernova lighting spectacle.
Make sure you pick up issue #11 of darc for our full Euroluce round up featuring all the products that caught our eye, designer profiles, a tour of the design districts and more!
Photo: Alessandro Russotti
Original BTC wins Queen's Award
British lighting manufacturer Original BTC is to receive a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade after achieving outstanding growth in export. Announced each year on 21st April - the Queen’s birthday - the awards recognise exceptional achievement in business and are the highest honour that can be bestowed on a UK company.
Established in 1990 by Peter Bowles, Original BTC began life as an Oxford-based home lighting brand and has evolved to become the Original BTC Group, with two further lighting brands, heritage marine lighting manufacturer Davey Lighting and LED lighting manufacturer Beadlight, under its umbrella. The Group exports 50% of its production, supplying both the retail and contract markets with an emphasis on the hotel, restaurant and aeronautical industries. With a family history steeped in retail, manufacturing and design, Bowles designs the Group’s products in conjunction with son Charlie who became Director in 2012. Six UK production facilities include a metalworks, glassworks, and a Stoke-on-Trent bone china factory rescued from closure in 2002, ensuring that most elements of their lights are manufactured in-house from raw material to finished product.
“Winning a Queen’s Award is a huge honour for the entire team – it’s the highest accolade a company can receive in the UK. We’ve worked hard to produce high quality, well-designed, globally competitive lighting to show how successful British design and manufacturing can be,” said Peter Bowles.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Original BTC’s Witney headquarters were recently visited by PM David Cameron. “I was delighted to visit Original BTC’s factory in my constituency. The Group, which has remained at the forefront of the industry, is a fantastic example of what can be achieved in a difficult economic climate. I know how much hard work has been put in by Peter and all the staff,” said Cameron.
Jake Dyson Light joins Dyson
Jake Dyson and his team have joined Dyson to continue advancing the core lighting technology it has developed over the past ten years. Jake will continue developing his lighting technology, while working with Dyson’s 2,000 engineers to drive future portfolios of technology.
First with his CSYS LED task light, and soon with the suspended Ariel LED light, Jake Dyson has developed core lighting technology to overcome the problems presented by current LEDs.
LEDs are semiconductor chips that produce light but also generate large amounts of heat. Over time this damages the chip, the brightness diminishes, and colour fades. Jake set out to overcome these problems.
Taking inspiration from the technology used in cooling satellite systems, Jake developed a heat pipe technology for LEDs. The heat created by the LEDs flows away from the chip, meaning the brightness, colour and energy efficiency remains. It’s engineered to last more than 37 years.
Jake Dyson said: “We’ve been developing technology to harness the power of LEDs for over ten years, creating lights for the home which are long-lasting and produce a high quality of light. Our cooling technology sits at the core, and means we’re able to use a high density, high powered LED light source which our competitors can’t. We’ve already got an ambitious pipeline of technology and I will help drive the broader application of technology at Dyson.”
James Dyson said: “Jake grew up alongside Dyson, he was making things at a young age in the machine shop, developing very practical technology ideas. After college he struck out on his own path developing his lighting technology from scratch with a small team in London. He has engineered a genuinely inventive step for LED technology which offers future opportunities for Dyson. Jake will join me and the wider team in driving the development of Dyson’s future technology.”
Innermost opens new Telford factory
Since the company’s founding in 1999 Central London, innermost has been an advocate for diversity, whether that is in their radical product designs or the international designers they collaborated with. This is why they have always placed production where the best skills can be found for the material or process – their HiHo covers are made in England with British sheepskins; their new glass pieces are hand-blown by skilled craftsmen of the Czech Republic, and they continue 15 years on to produce some of their own lights themselves in the UK.
With their new 10,000 sq ft facility in Telford, located at the heart of England, innermost deepens their commitment to Great British production. Facilities that include more production, assembly, testing, packaging, and warehousing will allow them to better uphold their standards of quality and deliver solutions across Europe faster and more efficiently.
Flos aquires Ares
The Flos collection is now joined by Ares’ specific know-how to compete effectively in the outdoor sector on global markets. Ambrogio Strano, the founder of Ares, will continue as the company’s CEO and will become a minority shareholder of Flos, with a place on the Board of Directors.
This follows on from Italian private equity firm Investindustrial buying a majority stake in Flos in September 2014. The deal, which a source close to the company said, valued the Italian lighting business at around 400 million euros. This is the first operation closed with the aim of continuing and strengthening the Group’s strategic growth. Established in 1994 in Bernareggio (in the province of Monza and Brianza, Italy), Ares has been committed to reflecting the evolution of the outdoor lighting sector, offering innovative lighting products, manufactured with materials including aluminium, stainless steel and glass. It soon recognised the potential of LED light sources, with a view to offering fixtures featuring high efficiency, reduced energy consumption and with a focus on environmental protection. Today the Ares production facility covers an area of over 12,000 sq metres.
The integration of the Ares collection into the Flos universe will be represented during the Salone del Mobile in Milan by a theatrical installation at Flos’ Euroluce stand, created by Israeli designer and artist Ron Gilad.
Flos CEO Piero Gandini said: “Our encounter with Ares comes in a period of strategic growth for the company and has opened up new prospects for strengthening our competitive potential in an important area like Outdoor lighting. With Ambrogio Strano and his staff, we share not only advanced research and innovation processes, but also the concept of integration between lighting units, architecture and spaces and, in the final analysis, the idea of experiencing light as an emotion. The Outdoor division is now the Group’s fourth production unit, alongside the historical Design sector in Brescia (Italy), the Architectural sector in Valencia (Spain) and our custom products sector, Light Contract. We are therefore continuing to pursue our model based on independent business units that share the same identity of design, growth strategy and range integration.”
Ares CEO Ambrogio Strano commented: “After bringing up a daughter like Ares, who has given me so many satisfactions and positive emotions, it is an immense honour and pleasure to accompany her up the aisle in such a special marriage, which sets both myself and all my staff new prospects and professional challenges.”
ConTech Lighting appointed Megaman North American distributor
Megaman partners with ConTech Lighting as exclusive distributor throughout North America.
ConTech Lighting has a strong and well established distribution network and is well recognised by designers for providing reliable, high performance products and market expertise.
As Megaman’s official distribution partner, ConTech Lighting will be responsible for increasing sales for the full range of Megaman energy efficient LED technology throughout the USA and Canada.
Fred Bass, Managing Director of Neonlite International, the brand owner of MEGAMAN, commented: “We’re delighted to be expanding in America. ConTech Lighting is seen as an ideal partner for us, because our technology is developed with designers in mind. With a strong heritage in applications such as grocery, fashion, hospitality, interior design, jewellery and car showrooms, our partnership with ConTech Lighting will be key in developing the business in these exciting sectors still further.”
John Ranshaw, President and CEO of ConTech Lighting added: “There is a tremendous opportunity for growth of a high performance LED lamp family with our unique customer-centric distribution model in North America.
"Our customer base of designers and specifiers is looking for LED lamps that offer peace of mind that the technology they specify is going to look good, be simple to install and is reliable. They also want a guarantee that the end user will receive the benefits they expect in terms of aesthetics, efficiency, sustainability and colour rendition, Megaman technology delivers in all these areas.”
Enigma Lighting appoint new Senior Lighting Adviser
Graham Carr joins Enigma Lighting as Senior Lighting Adviser for London and the South. Carr brings ten years of experience at Artemide to develop Enigma product sales and also exclusive brands DARK and Brick in the Wall.
Carr commented: “I am delighted to join Enigma Lighting and to be working with Paul Shoosmith and the team. I have always been impressed by their architectural range along with the products from Brick in the Wall and Dark. It is an exciting time to be working with such a progressive company”.
Sales Director Paul Shoosmith said: “Graham will undoubtedly help take Enigma Lighting to the next level. With our new generation of LED products in the Enigma range, and the fast growing popularity of our exclusive ranges Brick in the Wall and DARK, the future is prosperous. I really look forward to working with Graham.”
Northern Lighting design competition winner announced
Mads Sætter-Lassen’s Buddy table lamp wins Northern Lighting Student Design Award 2015.
For the third time Northern Lighting hosted the Northern Lighting Student Design Award, receiving over 120 contributions from design schools all over Nordic countries. This year, young designers' brief was to challenge existing lighting innovations, shapes, materials and functions.
Sætter-Lassen, Master student at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, The School of Design in Copenhagen, designed Buddy’s strong concept and characteristic form that challenge existing designs in lighting. Buddy features a small storage unit and flexible shade that can be rotated in any direction. The powder coated steel lamp has a colour palette in matte green, black, grey, white and coral.
Bank
Blending modern design with retro appeal, the Bank LED desk lamp is a modern take on the classic bankers lamp. Hand built and laser cut from steel and aluminium, its classic green shade moves on a custom designed pivot, to direct light where you need it most. With 740 lumens of efficient light energy, Bank floods any space with warm, inviting light. Additionally, Bank comes with an old tried and trusted pull switch, so you get that nostalgic click every time you turn it on.
mondo*arc india launched to critical acclaim
(India) - Launch event in Mumbai attracts almost 400 designers and architects ready for a high quality lighting design magazine for the India market.
Dressed to impress, the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre at the NCPA (National Center for Performing Arts), Mumbai stood with pristine glory as nearly 400 guests walked through its doors for the launch for the first magazine in the country dedicated todesigners with light. mondo*arc presented the inaugural issue of their Indian edition with much elan and gusto.
mondo*arc india, a collaboration between mondo*arc and Indian company STIR, brings the quality of the international magazine with greater Indian context pertaining to industry professionals, brands prevalent in the Indian market, research and development initiatives as well as the local and international lighting design fraternity. Ensuring that lighting is seen as a lifestyle product, which touches the emotional cords of any interior and architectural space, the publication is a platform for discussion and dissemination of ideas pertaining to light.
The Indian avatar of the publication was extremely well received by the invitees, including eminent personalities from the architecture and design fraternity, artists, art collectors, fashion and allied design professionals, developers and hoteliers, top industrialists, corporate executives, as well as the media.
The guests were left in awe as they entered the auditorium to find a large-scale cube constructed out of suspending fabric panels adorning the stage. Reflecting in the mirrored backdrop, an interplay of myriad colour light and projections rendered the space in infinity. Balancing this was an incredible maze of threadwork woven around cuboidal frames at the back of the auditorium. Dynamic colour changing lights penetrated through these towers of thread to accentuate the star-studded ceiling of the theatre.
Walking out of the auditorium, the guests were greeted by a larger than life sculpture titled NAAG, brought to life by dynamic projection mapping creating patterns and movement on its undulating surfaces. Sitara Yab, the interactive light art installation pulled people into its tunnel to experience light through personal movement.
The enthusiasm of the crowd was evident in their desire to be clicked with the newly unveiled magazine. With mondo*arc and STIR peppered in the backdrop, people lined up to catch the photographer's eye.
Highlights of the event:
- Opening note by Mrinalini Ghadiok (editor, mondo*arc india) introducingmondo*arc india.
- Talk by Paul James (editor, mondo*arc/darc) about the journey ofmondo*arc and darc magazines over the past 15 years.
- Introduction to STIR by Andre Tammes (curator and visual planner, Australia)
- Talk by Chiara Carucci (Lead Coordinator, L-RO, Italy) about 2015, the International Year of Light.
- Presentation by Charles Stone (President, Fisher Marantz Stone, USA) about his lighting design scheme at the World Trade Centre Memorial in New York.
- Panel discussion on the importance of lighting and lighting design in India, moderated by Andre Tammes. Panelists included international experts Charles Stone, Chiara Carucci, Babu Shankar (Principal, ILD, USA), Paul James; and Indian architects Kamal Malik and Abha Narain Lambah.
- Talk by Alexandra Mathews (Executive Vice President, Lucifer lighting) about connecting people and the pertinent position of lighting in today's world.
- Talk by Amit Gupta (publisher, mondo*arc india) about mondo*arc india, bringing the world of lighting design together to mark this new initiative.
- Set design and scenography by Sumant Jayakrishnan.
- Light art presentation and electronic music by BLOT, accompanied with a Bharatnatyam performance by eminent dancer, Jayalakshmi Eshwar.
- NAAG, a large scale sculptural installation with video projection mapping by artists Vishal K Dar in collaboration with Gabriel Dunne.
- Sitara Yab, an interactive light art presentation by Quicksand.
- Media interaction and interviews.
- Social-professional networking over cocktails and dinner.
mondo*arc india is a bi-monthly publication. The next edition will be the May/June issue.
To request a copy of mondo*arc india please email info@stir.lighting
A new home in New York city
(USA) - Luceplan, Milan design lighting company, and Modular Lighting Instruments, Belgian manufacturer of architectural lighting systems, have launched a new co-branded showroom in New York City’s Soho neighbourhood.
Patrizia Vicenzi, General Manager, Luceplan; Bart Maeyens, General Manager, Modular Lighting Instruments; and Giuseppe Butti, CEO, Luceplan USA, celebrated the showroom’s official launch at a cocktail event on March 11th at 14 Wooster Street - inspired by the Italian and Belgian homelands of these companies. Vicenzi said: "Linking a major Italian design brand to an architectural and technical lighting innovator was a logical and strategic pairing for both companies. This showroom serves as a source for engagement where architects and interior decorators, design professionals, builders and consumers can view and experience the products and understand their capabilities in person.”
Modular L.I.'s three-year plan is to become a must-buy fixture for American architects and their projects, and eventually become one of the leading brands in architectural lighting in the US. The new showroom currently carries the best-selling collections and popular brands include: the Smart series, Mini-Ritm, Spock and Stove.
The Project
Designed by architect Amedeo G. Cavalchini, the space exemplifies synergy between decorative and architectural lighting fixtures and offers architects and designers a one-stop shop for projects. Cavalchini’s design was initially inspired by the actual products that would be showcased there – looking at the technical, commercial, economical and aesthetic components. Set on two floors, Cavalchini divided the showroom’s main level into 22 light boxes each infused with a special still life, using new materials such as the de Castelli etched aluminium walls and pine wood slats. The lower level mixes old and new, integrating the original redbrick columns with modern lighting elements, meeting space and informal seating areas featuring furniture from Buzzispace.
